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Kristian Kristiansen

28 June 2018
ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLE
Economic Bulletin Issue 4, 2018
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Abstract
Equity capital is among the main sources of funding for euro area non-financial corporations (NFCs), making it an important factor in the transmission of monetary policy. From a central bank perspective, improving the measurement and understanding of the cost of equity is therefore essential. Unlike the cost of debt, which has declined substantially in recent years, the cost of equity has remained relatively stable at elevated levels. Results from the analysis performed in this article suggest that a persistently high “equity risk premium” (ERP) has been the key factor underpinning the high cost of equity for euro area NFCs. In fact, since the start of the global financial crisis, increases in the ERP have largely offset the fall in the yield of risk-free assets. This article argues that the widely used workhorse model to derive the cost of equity and the ERP, namely the three-stage dividend discount model, can be improved upon. In particular, incorporating short-term earnings expectations, discounting payouts to investors with a discount factor with appropriate maturity, and considering share buy-backs all yield beneficial refinements. This in turn would strengthen the theory and basis of the model and improve the robustness of its estimates. Most notably, share buy-back activity seems to matter, specifically for the level of the ERP. Notwithstanding such improvements in the modelling approach, estimating the ERP, particularly its level, remains subject to considerable uncertainty. Ultimately, such uncertainty advocates the use of a variety of models and survey estimates, as well as a focus on the dynamics, rather than on the level, of the ERP. From an applied perspective, the article demonstrates that cost of equity modelling can be used to disentangle the different drivers of changes in equity prices. This is helpful from a monetary policy perspective, as changes in equity prices can contain important information about the economic outlook and warrant monitoring for financial stability purposes. Moreover, the article shows that adding an international perspective to the analysis of the ERP for the overall market may provide valuable insights for policymakers. For instance, the greater reliance on share buy-backs among companies in the United States than those in the euro area appears to be behind some of the recent steeper decline in the ERP in the United States when compared with the ERP in the euro area.
JEL Code
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
G12 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Asset Pricing, Trading Volume, Bond Interest Rates
G32 : Financial Economics→Corporate Finance and Governance→Financing Policy, Financial Risk and Risk Management, Capital and Ownership Structure, Value of Firms, Goodwill
G35 : Financial Economics→Corporate Finance and Governance→Payout Policy
20 November 2019
FINANCIAL STABILITY REVIEW - BOX
Financial Stability Review Issue 2, 2019
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Abstract
Global equity and corporate bond prices have increased steadily since the end of the euro area sovereign debt crisis. Equity prices relative to earnings expectations are at the upper end of their historical distribution and corporate bond yields in the euro area are on aggregate at a historical low. During this time, euro area equity and corporate bond prices have been supported by the large decline in benchmark interest rates, which – in turn – reflects a decline in nominal economic growth rates, as well as accommodative monetary policies, including measures that brought down the short and the long end of the yield curve
28 July 2020
ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOX
Economic Bulletin Issue 5, 2020
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Abstract
After a pronounced decline until mid-April 2020, near-term earnings growth expectations derived from surveys and derivatives pricing in euro area equity markets appear to have troughed as the economic recovery is expected to gradually take hold. At the same time, a number of indicators show that investors remain concerned about a more protracted weakness in the euro area economy. Moreover, and despite a significant improvement since the announcement of the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP), market participants continue to price significant downside risks in equity markets in a highly uncertain environment. Nevertheless, equity prices continue to increase against the backdrop of a stabilisation in risk sentiment, global policy support, and the fact that tail risks of an imminent global financial crisis have faded to some extent. However, if current expectations of a recovery in earnings turn out to be overly optimistic, there will be substantial risks of significant renewed declines in equity prices.
JEL Code
E44 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
G12 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Asset Pricing, Trading Volume, Bond Interest Rates
G15 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→International Financial Markets
24 November 2020
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2493
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Abstract
A growing body of literature analyses the impact of news on companies’ equity prices. We add to this literature by showing that the transmission channel of news to prices differs across sectors. First, we disentangle sectoral equity prices into components of expected future earnings and equity risk premia. Then, we evaluate how these react to general and sector specific sentiment shocks constructed from Reuters news articles. We find that price changes for especially the financial sector are mainly driven by changes in equity risk premia, while changes in earnings expectations play a comparatively larger role for other sectors.
JEL Code
G10 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→General
G12 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Asset Pricing, Trading Volume, Bond Interest Rates
G14 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Information and Market Efficiency, Event Studies, Insider Trading
12 April 2021
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2535
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Abstract
This study analyses the effects of euro area monetary policy on equity risk premia (ERP). We find that changes in equity prices during periods of accommodative monetary policy mainly reflected adjustments in the discount factor and economic activity – rather than fluctuations in investors’ required risk compensation. Furthermore, the ERP appears to not have declined much since the introduction of unconventional monetary policy and stands higher than prior to the GFC. Use of identified monetary policy shocks points to insignificant effects of monetary policy on the ERP. Further breakdown of these shocks reveals that monetary policy has a significant upwards impact on the ERP if it is perceived as a negative information surprise, while the opposite prevails in the case of a genuine accommodative monetary policy surprise. Accumulating these effects over time suggests that the two might have largely offset each other since the introduction of unconventional monetary policy.
JEL Code
E22 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Capital, Investment, Capacity
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
G12 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Asset Pricing, Trading Volume, Bond Interest Rates