European Central Bank and Federal Reserve USA: monetary policy effects on the returns volatility of the Italian Stock Market Index Mibtel

Abstract

What is the effect of either European Central Bank and Federal Reserve monetary policies on the Italian Index Mibtel? This paper aims to evaluate the impact of monetary policy announcements of the most important Central Banks on the volatility of returns which have been considered at both sectorial and sub-sectorial levels during the period 1999-2008. Using EGARCH models, this work shows that expansive monetary policies may influence stock market indexes much more than restrictive monetary policies. The difference among the two central bank monetary policies is that the ECB influences indexes much more than Fed monetary policy.Monetary Policies, Stock Returns, Volatility, EGARCH, European Central Bank, Federal Reserve USA