Bruce Mizrach

Information Shares in the U.S. Treasury Market

This paper characterizes the tatonnement of high-frequency returns from U.S. Treasury spot and futures markets. In particular, we highlight the previously neglected role of the futures markets in price discovery. The highest futures market shares are in the longest maturities. The estimates of 5-year and 10-year GovPX spot market information shares typically fail to reach 50% from 1999 on. The GovPX information shares for the 2-year contract are higher than those of the 5- and 10-year maturities but also decline after 1998. Standard liquidity measures, including the relative bid-ask spreads, number of trades, and realized volatility are statistically significant and explain up to 21% of daily information shares. The futures market gains information share in about 1/4 of the events where public information is released, but days of macroeconomic announcements rarely explain information shares independently of their effects on liquidity.

On Determining the Dimension of Real-Time Stock-Price Data

The authors estimate the dimension of high-frequency stock-price data using the correlation integral of P. Grassberger and I. Procaccia. The data, even after filtering, appear to be of low dimension. To control for dependence in higher moments, the authors use a new technique known as the method of delays in their reconstruction. Delaying the data leads dimension estimates similar to random processes. They conclude that the data are either of low dimension with high entropy or nonlinear but of high dimension.

The Market Microstructure of the European Climate Exchange

This paper analyzes the market microstructure of the European Climate Exchange, the largest EU ETS trading venue. The ECX captures 2/3 of the screen traded market in EUA and more than 90% in CER. Volume growth has averaged 277% in EUA between 2005 and 2009 and 724% in CER since 2007. Spreads range from €0.0188 to €0.0406 for EUA and €0.0276 to €0.0796 for CER. The median proportion of the spread due to adverse selection reaches 76% for EUA and 75% for CER. Realized volatility, bid-ask spreads and adverse selection costs decline with verified emission releases. Market impact estimates imply that an average trade will move the EUA market by 1.06 euro centimes and the CER market 1.45. The ECX is providing between 75% and 88% of price discovery for EUA trading and between 64% and 72% for CER. We find imbalances in the order book help predict returns for up to three days. A simple trading strategy that enters the market long or short when the order imbalance is strong is profitable even after accounting for spreads and market impact.

Integration of the Global Carbon Markets

This paper analyzes the market architecture and common factors of emission reduction instruments in Europe and North America. Spot and futures prices across exchanges in Europe are cointegrated, but the futures curve beyond the calendar year evolves independently. Despite narrower spreads, political uncertainties about the Clean Development Mechanism have kept EUA and CER prices from converging. RGGI allowances share a common trend with EUA, and the European markets adjust to the U.S. price trend. A

Experts Online: An Analysis of Trading Activity in a Public Internet Chat Room

0:10 shock to RGGI prices leads to a one-month

Managing the Dollar: Has the Plaza Agreement Mattered?

0:64 cumulative increase in EUA prices. The introduction of cap and trade legislation in the U.S. has broken a cointegrating relationship in voluntary prices. Voluntary instruments that are convertible into mandatory allowances imply less than a 20% probability of price convergence between the U.S. and Europe by 2013.

The distribution of the Theil U-statistic in bivariate normal populations

We analyze the trading activity in an Internet chat room over a four-year period. The data set contains nearly 9,000 trades from 676 traders. We find these traders are more skilled than retail investors analyzed in other studies. 55% make profits after transaction costs, and they have statistically significant alphas of 0.17% per day after controlling for the Fama-French factors and momentum. Traders hold their winners 25% longer than their losers. 42% trade both long and short, with equal success rates, and almost double the profit per trade when short. The estimates show a strong influence from other traders, with a buy (sell) order 40.7% more likely to be of the same sign if there has been a recent post. Traders improve their skill over time, earning an extra

Nonconvexities in a stochastic control problem with learning

189 per month for each year of trading experience. They also gain expertise in trading particular stocks. Traders who raise their Herfindahl index by 0.1 raise their profitability by

Assessing central bank credibility during the ERM crises: Comparing option and spot market-based forecasts

46 per trade.

Determining delay times for phase space reconstruction with application to the FF/DM exchange rate

This paper considers whether the Plaza Agreement of September 1985 marked the beginning of a fundamental shift in the exchange-rate policy regime for the United States, the former West Germany, and Japan. The paper uses a simple monetary model of the open economy to illustrate how the exchange rate responses to news about the trade balance when the government authorities gear policy toward resolving external imbalances. The paper finds that U.S. dollars exchange rates against the Japanese yen and the West German mark respond strongly to news about the U.S. trade deficit during the period following the Plaza Agreement but not during the period preceding the Agreement. This evidence, evaluated in the context of the simple model, suggests that the Plaza Agreement marked a significant shift toward more active government management of exchange rates. Copyright 1991 by Ohio State University Press.