COVID-19 and the Energy Price Volatility Christopoulos, Apostolos G.; Kalantonis, Petros; Katsampoxakis, Ioannis ...
Energies,
10/2021, Letnik:
14, Številka:
20
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The challenges of the world economy and their societies, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have led policy-makers to seek for effective solutions. This paper examines the oil price ...volatility response to the COVID-19 pandemic and stock market volatility using daily data. A general econometric panel model is applied to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 infection and death announcements with oil price volatility. The paper uses data from six geographical zones, Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America, and Oceania for the period 21 January 2020 until 13 May 2021 and the empirical findings show that COVID-19 deaths affected oil volatility significantly. This conclusion is confirmed by a second stage analysis applied separately for each geographical area. The only geographical area where the existence of correlation is not confirmed between the rate of increase in deaths and the volatility of the price of crude oil is Asia. The conclusions of this study clearly suggest that COVID-19 is a new risk component on top of economic and market uncertainty that affects oil prices and volatility. Overall, our results are useful for policy-makers, especially in the case of a new wave of infection and deaths in the future.
This study attempts to examine the existence of interdependencies between specific stock market indices, exchange rates and crude oil for the period January 2021 to July 2022 with daily data. In the ...period we have chosen, the post-vaccination phase against COVID-19, as well as the war in Ukraine, is covered. The variables selected for this study are RTSI, Eurostoxx, S&P 500, EUR/USD and RUB/USD exchange rates and crude oil prices. The selection of the specific variables was made because they are directly related to the pre-war period that coincides with the post-vaccine period of the pandemic, which allowed us to characterize it as the normal period and to characterize the period of the war in Ukraine that coincides with the energy crisis as the unstable period. In this way, the present study covers the markets of Russia and other developed economies. For empirical purposes, we applied a wavelet coherence approach in order to investigate the possible existence of simultaneous coherence between the variables at different times and scales for all the considered times. The findings of the study reveal the existence of strong correlations between all variables, during different time periods and for different frequencies during the period under review. Of particular interest is the finding that shows that during the crisis period, the RTSI significantly affects both the European and American stock markets, while also determining the evolution of the Russian currency. In addition, it appears that capital constraints in the Russian stock market, combined with increased demand for crude oil, determine the interdependence between RTSI and crude oil. Finally, an interesting finding of the study is the existence of a negative correlation between the US stock index and crude oil in low-frequency bands and the RTSI and Eurostoxx with crude oil for the post-vaccination and pre-war periods in the medium term. These findings can be used by both investors and portfolio managers to hedge risks and make more confident investment decisions. In addition, these findings can be used by policy makers in the planning of regulatory policies regarding the limitations of the systemic risks in capital markets.
Abstract
Germline single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of the
DCBLD1
gene are associated with non-smoking cases of both non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and human ...papillomavirus-negative head and neck cancer. However the clinical relevance and function of
DCBLD1
remain unclear. This multicenter retrospective study was designed to evaluate the prognostic value and function of
DCBLD1
in the four main solid cancers: NSCLC, invasive breast carcinoma, colorectal adenocarcinoma and prostate adenocarcinoma. We included the following cohorts: GSE81089 NSCLC, METABRIC invasive breast carcinoma, GSE14333 colorectal adenocarcinoma, GSE70770 prostate adenocarcinoma and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Firehose Legacy cohorts of all four cancers.
DCBLD1
gene expression was associated with a worse overall survival in multivariate analyses for both NSCLC cohorts (TCGA:
P
= 0.03 and GSE81089:
P
= 0.04) and both invasive breast carcinoma cohorts (TCGA:
P
= 0.02 and METABRIC:
P
< 0.001). Patients with high
DCBLD1
expression showed an upregulation of the integrin signaling pathway in comparison to those with low
DCBLD1
expression in the TCGA NSCLC cohort (FDR = 5.16 × 10
–14
) and TCGA invasive breast carcinoma cohort (FDR = 1.94 × 10
–05
).
This review aims to examine the impact of increasing energy costs on the global economy, social cohesion, economic growth, and capital markets, with a particular focus on the consequences of the ...COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis intensified by the war in Ukraine. The methodology involves an extensive review of recent academic literature to cast light on these impacts. The study identifies significant disruptions in supply chains and heightened volatility in international capital markets due to these crises. Furthermore, the findings highlight the resulting challenges for policymakers, academics, market analysts, and professionals in addressing corporate sustainability in an increasingly uncertain environment. This paper underscores the continued relevance of energy issues as a central concern, both independently and in connection with broader economic sectors. Additionally, it discusses the importance of policy measures to enhance energy security and the transition towards sustainable energy solutions to mitigate these challenges and foster economic resilience.
The scope of this paper is to investigate the predictability of financial distress, adopting a survival model based on dynamic logit for a sample of NYSE listed firms. The main assumption of this ...study is that liquidity and profitability constitute the key criteria for the configuration of financial distress status of a firm. Specifically, two independent models are applied for the period after the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The first model is constructed on the pillar of liquidity, and the classification into the subgroup of distressed firms is based on specific criteria such as current ratio, current liabilities / total liabilities, Equity / Liabilities and Total Debt / Total Asset. The second model is based on the pillar of profitability where the specific criteria for the classification from the primary group into the subgroup of distressed firms are ROE < ROA and Net Profit Margin ≤ 0. Finally, a third model is established as a result of the combination of the two previous models. A further purpose of this work is to ascertain whether during the period of crisis there has been a differentiation in the policy of listed companies, namely whether their efforts have been shifted to addressing liquidity problems at the expense of profitability.
This paper investigates the interrelations between stock returns and crude oil prices for European oil-importing/exporting countries. A vector autoregression (VAR) model is applied to estimate the ...significance of stock market responses to changes in oil prices during the pandemic period 2019–2021. A Granger causality test is applied to find the direction and the intensity of the relation between crude oil and the indices of the European stock markets. The findings of this paper hold with or without the COVID-19 pandemic episode and reveal the interaction between the European stock markets and the crude oil prices. The results indicate that in steady periods, before the COVID-19 outbreak and after the announcement of vaccinations, there is no interdependence between crude oil and stock prices, whereas in high volatility periods, the causality from stock markets to oil prices increases and both oil-exporting and -importing countries are equally influenced. These findings have implications both for investors and fund managers.
We examined the extent to which companies in the paper processing sector, operating in printing, packaging, labeling, and paper bagging, comply with the requirements of Greek legislation for ...reporting information on ESG issues. The overall average compliance rating of the sector, which is 45.86% for the year 2021 and 46.20% for the year 2020, is below 50% (baseline), which means that the sector should improve in reporting on ESG issues. It should also be noted that there has been a deterioration in the average compliance rating between the two years. There is a very high statistically significant correlation between the compliance rating average and the average total assets (r2 = 0.897) and the average number of employees (r2 = 0.922), a high correlation, though not statistically significant, between the compliance rating average and the average results (r2 = 0.648), and a moderate statistically significant correlation between the compliance rating average and the average revenues (r2 = 0.570). There is an obvious positive relationship between holding ISO certificates and external auditor involvement and the average compliance rating of companies; these are both qualitative features favorable to effective governance. The companies that are active in paper bagging and cardboard box (food packaging) usage have also developed a greater environmentally friendly culture, which results in a higher average compliance rating in comparison with the other two activities of the sector. The companies in the region of Attica have a higher compliance rating than the companies in other regions because they operate in an environment that is much more polluted than the rest of Greece, due to its high concentration of people and companies; thus, they have become more sensitive to ESG issues. The companies that have been operating longer have also achieved a higher average compliance rating because younger companies are trying to gain market share and are not devoting their time and resources to ESG issues.
The present review focuses on comparative studies of reconstruction with free flaps (FF) versus pedicled flaps (PF) after oncologic resection.
A systematic review was developed in compliance with ...PRISMA guidelines and performed using the Pubmed, Medline, EMBASE, Amed and Biosis databases.
A total of 30 articles were included. FF are associated with a longer operative time, a higher cost and a higher incidence of postoperative revisions compared to PF. FF are associated with a longer stay at the intensive care unit than the supraclavicular artery island flap (SCAIF) and with a more extended hospital stay compared to the submental island flap (SMIF). FF are associated with fewer infections and necrosis compared to the pectoralis major myocutaneous flap (PMMF).
The comparison of both type of flaps is limited by the inherent design of the studies included. In sum, FF seem superior to the PMMF for several outcomes. SMIF and SCAIF compare favorably to FF for some specific indications achieving similar outcomes at a lower cost.
Island wetlands are considered crucial to biodiversity due to their unique ecological, biogeographical, and socioeconomic dynamics. However, these habitat types are particularly vulnerable to ...invasion; invasive species can cause severe ecological, evolutionary, and epidemiological impacts on native species. One of the most important invasive species, the common slider Trachemys scripta, an opportunistic inhabitant of freshwater habitats, has been released in multiple localities across Greece in recent years, and has expanded its range through random and unintentional releases in the Aegean islands. Since its first documented record on the island of Crete in 1998, the species has been observed on six more islands. Here, we report, for the first time, two subspecies of the common slider (T. scripta scripta and T. scripta elegans) on the wetlands of the island of Lesvos. We discuss the potential threats to native terrapins and we examine whether the introduction of this invasive species has affected native terrapins by monitoring their populations for 12 consecutive years (2010–2022). We found the common slider in 3 out of 110 wetlands surveyed. At one site, we document the presence of invasive terrapins belonging to two different subspecies. In all surveyed wetlands, we found stable populations of the two native freshwater terrapins, Mauremys rivulata and Emys orbicularis, with the first species found in much larger populations than the second. Despite these reassuring findings, the presence of this introduced species on the island of Lesvos raises serious concerns regarding its negative effects on the local terrapin populations. We propose that systematic and thorough monitoring of insular wetlands, as in the case of Lesvos, should be adopted on other islands as well, with priority on those where the common slider has been recorded.
Despite a recent shift towards sustainable practices to support the conservation of traditional olive groves, little is known about their potential threats to herpetofauna species. On the island of ...Lesvos, one of the main olive-growing islands in the Mediterranean, olive cultivation often prioritizes the expeditious harvesting of olives with minimal or no supplementary intervention, resulting in their generally suboptimal management, a component of which also pertains to the olive nets that, in many cases, remain dispersed and unfurled throughout the groves. This particular practice affects the species living in the olive groves, making them more prone to risks related to their accidental trapping. In this study, we report the first case of a Grass snake being inadvertently trapped in an olive net laid out on an olive grove. The position of the snake under the net, within a folded tipping, made it difficult for it to escape, and it became increasingly entangled. Based on this incident, it is plausible to assume that similar cases may occur in areas where nets are used in olive groves, both in Greece and other olive-growing countries. Further systematic research is necessary to determine the extent of this issue.
PDF
