•We investigate short-term stock market reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic.•Stocks react significantly negatively to the announcement of the first death.•Stock markets react negatively to ...country-specific fiscal policy measures.•Monetary measures have the power to calm markets.
We study the short-term market reactions of US and European stocks during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employing an event study, we document that stocks react significantly negatively to the announcement of the first death in a given country. While our results suggest that the announcements of country-specific fiscal policy measures negatively affect stock returns, monetary policy measures have the potential to calm markets. These reactions are either intensified or lessened by firm-specific characteristics such as tangible assets, liquidity, and institutional holdings.
We study the short-term impact of sovereign rating and outlook changes on daily portfolio flows of active and passive mutual funds to emerging market economies. Our results indicate that active bond ...fund flows react only to negative rating actions, whereas passive bond fund flows are sensitive to both positive and negative rating actions. Active and passive country flows hence do not always follow the same determinants.
•We study the impact of rating changes on portfolio flows to emerging markets.•Portfolio flow reactions differ for active and passive flows.•Flow reactions strongest for extremely weak or strong credit quality.
Abstract
The tendency for decreasing a series of occupational exposure limit values is seen the last years. Especially metal species are linked to a larger health effect in latest toxicological ...assessments. These changes imply further reductions of the limits of quantification for both the sampling and analysis methods. The personal sampling methods (as a set of sampler, filter and pump) used today comprise air flows up to 10 l/min. In order to achieve higher amounts of sampled aerosols an airflow of 20 l/min is aimed for a new set of samplers for the inhalable and respirable dust fraction. This also enables shorter sampling times than a full shift, e.g. task based exposure assessment. A small set of prototypes was designed to go into testing. A filter size of 47 mm was chosen to realise a higher dust load and an acceptable pressure drop for a personal air sampling pump. Such a pump was recently developed and is now available. Samplers for the inhalable fraction with different numbers and orientation of orifices are tested in a calm air dust chamber and a wind tunnel according to the test standard EN 13205 in the particle size range up to 100 µm. A cyclone design according to the GK family of cyclones (Mesalabs) was chosen to meet the respirable convention. First test results will be shown, either in comparison with validated samplers or in terms of the sampling efficiency in dependence of the aerodynamic diameter.
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