As the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has amplified so has country responses to it. With COVID-19 taking its toll on humans, as reflected in the number of people infected by, and deaths from, ...COVID-19, countries responded by locking down economic activity and peoples movement, imposing travel bans, and implementing stimulus packages to cushion the unprecedented slowdown in economic activity and loss of jobs. This article provides a commentary on how the most active financial indicator - namely, the stock price - reacted in real-time to different stages in COVID-19's evolution. We argue that, as with any unexpected news, markets over-react and as more information becomes available and people understand the ramifications more broadly the market corrects itself. This is our hypothesis which needs robust empirical verification.
In this paper we test the Environment Kuznet's Curve (EKC) hypothesis for 43 developing countries. We suggest examining the EKC hypothesis based on the short- and long-run income elasticities; that ...is, if the long-run income elasticity is smaller than the short-run income elasticity then it is evident that a country has reduced carbon dioxide emissions as its income has increased. Our empirical analysis based on individual countries suggests that Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen, Qatar, the UAE, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Algeria, Kenya, Nigeria, Congo, Ghana, and South Africa—approximately 35 per cent of the sample—carbon dioxide emissions have fallen over the long run; that is, as these economies have grown emissions have fallen since the long-run income elasticity is smaller than the short-run elasticity. We also examine the EKC hypothesis for panels of countries constructed on the basis of regional location using the panel cointegration and the panel long-run estimation techniques. We find that only for the Middle Eastern and South Asian panels, the income elasticity in the long run is smaller than the short run, implying that carbon dioxide emission has fallen with a rise in income.
This paper examines the relationship between the Japanese Yen and the country’s stock returns. Using several variants of econometric models and empirical specifications, we unravel that the ...depreciation of the Yen vis-à-vis the US dollar led to gains in Japanese stock returns. A one standard deviation depreciation of the Yen during the COVID-19 period (equivalent to 0.588%) improved stock market returns by 71% of average returns We see that this relationship was stronger over the COVID-19 period (January 2020 to August 2020) compared to the pre-crisis period.
•We examine the effect of government responses of G7 countries to COVID-19.•We focus on reaction of G7 stock market returns.•We show the importance of lockdowns, travel bans, and economic ...stimulus.•Lockdowns resulted in cushioning the effects of COVID-19 most.
This paper examines the effect of government responses of G7 countries to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on stock market returns. Using time-series data, we show that lockdowns, travel bans, and economic stimulus packages all had a positive effect on the G7 stock markets. However, lockdowns were most effective in cushioning the effects of COVID-19. Our results are robust to different measures of returns and controls for other factors of returns.
The goal of this paper is to model the impact of oil prices on Vietnam’s stock prices. We use daily data for the period 2000–2008 and include the nominal exchange rate as an additional determinant of ...stock prices. We find that stock prices, oil prices and nominal exchange rates are cointegrated, and oil prices have a positive and statistically significant impact on stock prices. This result is inconsistent with theoretical expectations. The growth of the Vietnamese stock market was accompanied by rising oil prices. However, the boom of the stock market was marked by increasing foreign portfolio investment inflows which are estimated to have doubled from US$0.9 billion in 2005 to US$1.9 billion in 2006. There was also a change in preferences from holding foreign currencies and domestic bank deposits to stocks local market participants, and there was a rise in leveraged investment in stock as well as investments on behalf of relatives living abroad. It seems that the impact of these internal and domestic factors were more dominant than the oil price rise on the Vietnamese stock market.
The paper extends the time-series financial news data set constructed by Garcia (2013) and uses it to examine whether financial news predicts returns of Islamic stocks differently compared to ...non-Islamic (conventional) stocks. We find that they do. First, while both positive and negative worded news predict most Islamic and conventional stock returns, positive words have a larger impact on both types of stock returns. Second, shock to returns from financial news reverses only in part for some stocks. Third, for a mean-variance investor, investing in Islamic stocks is relatively more profitable than investing in the corresponding conventional stocks. Fourth, we show that profits are robust to a range of time-series risk factors, namely, market risk, size-based risk, and momentum-induced risk.
•Financial news predicts most Islamic and conventional stock returns.•Positive worded news has is relatively more important for stock returns.•Shock to returns from financial news reverses only in part for some stocks.•A mean-variance investor investing in Islamic stocks makes more profits.•Profits are robust to a range of time-series risk factors.
•We study whether commodity futures market predicts the commodity spot market.•Using historical daily data, we find that they do.•We show how investors can use this information on the futures market ...to devise trading strategies.•Dynamic trading strategies suggest that all commodities are profitable.•We discover that profits are dependent on structural breaks.
In this paper we study whether the commodity futures market predicts the commodity spot market. Using historical daily data on four commodities—oil, gold, platinum, and silver—we find that they do. We then show how investors can use this information on the futures market to devise trading strategies and make profits. In particular, dynamic trading strategies based on a mean–variance investor framework produce somewhat different results compared with those based on technical trading rules. Dynamic trading strategies suggest that all commodities are profitable and profits are dependent on structural breaks. The most recent global financial crisis marked a period in which commodity profits were the weakest.
This paper examines the relationship between capital formation, energy consumption and real GDP in a panel of G7 countries using panel unit root, panel cointegration, Granger causality and long-run ...structural estimation. We find that capital formation, energy consumption and real GDP are cointegrated and that capital formation and energy consumption Granger cause real GDP positively in the long run. We find that a 1% increase in energy consumption increases real GDP by 0.12–0.39%, while a 1% increase in capital formation increases real GDP by 0.1–0.28%.
The goal of this paper is to examine any causal effects between electricity consumption and real GDP for 30 OECD countries. We use a bootstrapped causality testing approach and unravel evidence in ...favour of electricity consumption causing real GDP in Australia, Iceland, Italy, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Korea, Portugal, and the UK. The implication is that electricity conservation policies will negatively impact real GDP in these countries. However, for the rest of the 22 countries our findings suggest that electricity conversation policies will not affect real GDP.
This paper examines the causal relationship between electricity consumption, exports and gross domestic product (GDP) for a panel of Middle Eastern countries. We find that for the panel as a whole ...there are statistically significant feedback effects between these variables. A 1 per cent increase in electricity consumption increases GDP by 0.04 per cent, a 1 per cent increase in exports increases GDP by 0.17 per cent and a 1 per cent increase in GDP generates a 0.95 per cent increase in electricity consumption. The policy implications are that for the panel as a whole these countries should invest in electricity infrastructure and step up electricity conservation policies to avoid a reduction in electricity consumption adversely affecting economic growth. Further policy implications are that for the panel as a whole promoting exports, particularly non-oil exports, is a means to promote economic growth and that expansion of exports can be realized without having adverse effects on energy conservation policies.
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