Expect the unexpected

Did the equity markets anticipate the Russo-Ukrainian war?

Marcell Granat, Oliver Nagy, Gabor Neszveda, Kristof Lehmann

10 November, 2022

Hello!

Marcell P. GRANAT

Assistant Lecturer at John von Neumann University

Oliver NAGY

Assistant Lecturer at John von Neumann University

Gabor NESZVEDA

Associate Professor at John von Neumann University

Kristof LEHMANN

Head of MNB Institute, Associate Professor at John von Neumann University

Motivation

  • Russian military operations began in Ukraine

  • Most of the equity markets fall sharply on that day

  • Traders anticipating the outbreak of war will avoid certain regions whose markets will be disrupted by the conflict

Proximity matters!

Figure based on Federle et al. (2022).

Motivation

  • Russian military operations began in Ukraine

  • Most of the equity markets fall sharply on that day

  • Traders anticipating the outbreak of war will avoid certain regions whose markets will be disrupted by the conflict

  • An informed traders could follow a trading strategy if they calculate with the risk of the war

When did the markets started to price the war?

Setup

  • Traders anticipating the outbreak of war will avoid certain regions whose markets will be disrupted by the conflict.

  • Liquidation value (\(v\)): the price of the given index on the event day

  • We assume that the traders may expect the liquadtion value of the stock indexes

  • Informed traders will buy stocks at markets where the expected liquidation value is higher than the actual

  • Two empirical framework based on Ellison and Mullin (1997): empirical investigation of gradient information incorporation

  • The first step is to calculate the adjusted returns based on four presumptively relevant factors

Data

  • Daily log returns of international equity indices from 63 countries (after cleaning, downloaded from Datastream)

  • Value-weighted indices of the largest firms in each country, representing 80% of the aggregate stock market capitalization

Step 0. Calculating adjusted returns

Fama-French-Carhart four-factor model

To quantify the effect of the Russia-Ukraine war on the index returns, we control for four relevant factors by using an event study approach

  1. Market premium (MKT)

Calculated as described at French’s Data Library:

  1. Small Minus Big (SMB)

  2. High Minus Low (HML)

  3. Up Minus Down (UMD)

Fama-French-Carhart four-factor model

To quantify the effect of the Russia-Ukraine war on the index returns, we control for four relevant factors by using an event study approach

Pre-event estimation window is defined as (traded days -350, -101), the event window is (-100,0), as the common event date (day 0) is 2022 February 24

Fama-French-Carhart four-factor model

We estimated the country-specific \(\beta\) parameters with the observations of the pre-event window, and apply them to calculate the Abnormal returns in the event window.

\[ AR_{i,t} = r_{i,t} - \hat{\beta}_{0,i} - \hat{\beta}_{1,i} MKT_t - \hat{\beta}_{2,i}SMB_t - \hat{\beta}_{3,i}HML_t-\hat{\beta}_{4,i}UMD_t \]

  • AR shows the daily change of an index after controlling for the described factors

  • We derive adjusted price indexes as follows:

\[ p_{i, t} = (1 + AR_{i,t}) p_{i,t-1} \:\:\text{and}\:\: p_{i,0}=1 \]

Rolling OLS

  • Traders anticipating the outbreak of war will avoid certain regions whose markets will be disrupted by the conflict.

  • We assume that the traders may expect which markets are the ones that will fall

  • Liquidation value (\(v\)): the price of the given index on the event day

  • Informed traders will buy stocks at markets where the expected liquidation value is higher than the actual

These result the following price movement, if the traders anticipate the war:

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_0 + \beta_{1}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

Rolling OLS

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_0 + \beta_{1}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

  • We estimate the coefficient related to the \(v-p_{i,t-1}\) term, in 10-days rolling windows

  • PRIOR EXPECTATION: price changes should depend positively on \((v − p_{t−1})\), and that this dependence should grow as we are getting closer in time (Ellison and Mullin, 1997) to the outbreak of war

Rolling OLS

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_0 + \beta_{1}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

  • We estimate the coefficient related to the \(v-p_{i,t-1}\) term, in 10-days rolling windows

  • PRIOR EXPECTATION: price changes should depend positively on \((v − p_{t−1})\), and that this dependence should grow as we are getting closer in time (Ellison and Mullin, 1997) to the outbreak of war

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_0 + \beta_{j}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)D_j+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

, where \(D_{j}\) is a categorical variable referring to a 10-day (trading day) rolling window

Rolling OLS

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_0 + \beta_{j}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)D_j+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

Rolling OLS

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_0 + \beta_{j}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)D_j+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

This estimation follows the framework applied by Ellison and Mullin (1997)

Rolling OLS

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_0 + \beta_{j}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)D_j+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

This estimation follows the framework applied by Ellison and Mullin (1997)

  • Constantly hold intercept could lead to error clusters

  • We re-estimate the model with changing intercept to ensure that this does not distort our results

Rolling OLS

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_0 + \beta_{j}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)D_j+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

This estimation follows the framework applied by Ellison and Mullin (1997)

  • Constantly hold intercept could lead to error clusters

  • We re-estimate the model with changing intercept to ensure that this does not distort our results (like separate regressions)

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_{0,j}D_j + \beta_{1,j}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)D_j+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

Rolling OLS

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_{0,j}D_j + \beta_{1,j}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)D_j+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

Nonlinear regression

Motivation

  • The previous methodologies could only detect the time window, when markets started to price the risk of the war

  • We would like to apply an empirical model to identify the exact day

  • Dependence should grow by time

  • We also saw this pattern empirically

Nonlinear regression

Motivation

  • The previous methodologies could only detect the time window, when markets started to price the risk of the war

  • We would like to apply an empirical model to identify the exact day

  • Dependence should grow by time

  • We also saw this pattern empirically

  • Traders gradually incorporate their information into their behaviour

Nonlinear regression

Motivation

  • Dependence should grow by time

The price movement should follow the following formula, when the markets price the war:

\[\Delta p_{t}=\gamma_{1}\left(v-p_{t-1}\right)+\gamma_{2}\left(v-p_{t-1}\right) t+\epsilon_{t}\]

  • \(\gamma_{2}\left(v-p_{t-1}\right) t\) refers that the informed trader becomes more active as the event approaches

  • Time of information incorporation can be estimated by determining the starting point

Nonlinear regression

SOLUTION: Let us multiply the investigated effects with indicator functions (Ellison and Mullin, 1997)

\[\Delta p_{t}=\xi_{0}+\gamma_{1}\left(v-p_{t-1}\right) \frac{e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}{1+e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}+ \\ \gamma_{2}\left(v-p_{t-1}\right)\left(\frac{t-t_{0}}{T-t_{0}}\right) \frac{e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}{1+e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}} + \epsilon_t,\]

where \(t_0\) denotes the estimated starting point of the trading process, \(t\) refers to calendar days from the first day of the investigated time window and \(T\) equals to the length of the window (100 in our case).

Interpretation: \(\frac{e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}{1+e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}\)

Interpretation: \(\frac{t-t_{0}}{T-t_{0}}\)

Interpretation: \(\left(\frac{t-t_{0}}{T-t_{0}}\right) \frac{e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}{1+e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}\)

Nonlinear regression

\[\Delta p_{t}=\xi_{0}+\gamma_{1}\left(v-p_{t-1}\right) \frac{e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}{1+e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}+ \\ \gamma_{2}\left(v-p_{t-1}\right)\left(\frac{t-t_{0}}{T-t_{0}}\right) \frac{e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}}{1+e^{\left(t-t_{0}\right)}} + \epsilon_t\]

  • We estimate these parameters by nonlinear regression.

  • Common issue to specify the initial values correctly, since the final result of the estimated parameters may depend on that

  • Grid search to find the optimal starting points

Nonlinear regression

  • We generate grid of the four estimated parameters (\(0 \leq \xi_0 \leq 1; 0 \leq \gamma_1 \leq 1; 0 \leq \gamma_2 \leq 1; 1 \leq t_0 \leq 100\)), and pick 1000 random combinations, to ensure that we find the global optimum

  • We choose the model with the highest log-likelihood

#> # A tibble: 845 × 5
#>       xi gamma1    t0 gamma2 fit   
#>    <dbl>  <dbl> <dbl>  <dbl> <list>
#>  1 0.632  0.632  94.8 0.737  <nls> 
#>  2 0.421  0.526  73.9 0.316  <nls> 
#>  3 0.737  0.368  94.8 0.158  <nls> 
#>  4 0.895  0.684  89.6 0.211  <nls> 
#>  5 0.632  0.421  94.8 0.789  <nls> 
#>  6 0.895  0.368  79.2 0      <nls> 
#>  7 0.211  0.684  42.7 0.842  <nls> 
#>  8 0.895  0.526  16.6 0.158  <nls> 
#>  9 0.368  0.684  21.8 0.0526 <nls> 
#> 10 0.842  0.368  27.1 0.947  <nls> 
#> # … with 835 more rows

Nonlinear regression

The best fitted model

Term Estimate Std. error Statistic P-value
\(\xi\) 0.0002 0.0002 0.9592 0.3375
\(\gamma_1\) 0.0261 0.0075 3.4826 0.0005***
\(\gamma_2\) 0.0450 0.0150 3.0042 0.0027***
\(t_0\) 50.6067 1.5035 33.6595 0.0000***

The table shows that:

  1. Information incoroporated gradually (\(\gamma_2\) is significant)

  2. The market started to price the risk of the war 49 days before its outbreak (\(100-t_0\))

Chow-test

We also perform a Chow-test to argue for structural break.

\[\Delta p_{i,t}= \beta_0 + \beta_{1}\left(v-p_{i,t-1}\right)+\epsilon_{i,t}\]

The above formula is estimated on the two subgroup of the indexes: before (1) the estimated starting point and after (2). We also estimate the equation on the full sample (R) and substitute the resulted Sum of Squared Error into the formula of the Chow-test statistic:

\[ F_c=\frac{(ESS_R- ESS_1 - ESS_2) / k}{(ESS_1+ESS_2) / (n-2k)} \]

Chow-test

\[ F_c=\frac{(ESS_R- ESS_1 - ESS_2) / k}{(ESS_1+ESS_2) / (n-2k)} \]

The resulted test-statistic is 41.91, and the corresponding p-value is computationally zero. This confirms our statement, that the market changed (started to price) 49 days before the outbreak of the war (6th of January).

Thank you for your attention!

References

References

  • Federle, J., A. Meier, G. J. Müller, et al. (2022). Proximity to War: The Stock Market Response to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. SSRN Scholarly Paper 4060222. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4060222. URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4060222 (visited on Jun. 15, 2022).

References

  • Asness, C. S., J. M. Liew, and R. L. Stevens (1997). “Parallels between the cross-sectional predictability of stock and country returns”. In: Journal of Portfolio Management 23.3, p. 79.

  • Becker, R. A., A. R. Wilks, R. Brownrigg, et al. (2021). maps: Draw Geographical Maps. R package version 3.4.0. URL: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=maps.

  • Asness, C. S., J. M. Liew, and R. L. Stevens (1997). “Parallels between the cross-sectional predictability of stock and country returns”. In: Journal of Portfolio Management 23.3, p. 79.

  • Fama, E. F. and K. R. French (1993). “Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds”. In: Journal of Financial Economics 33.1, pp. 3–56.

References

  • Jegadeesh, N. and S. Titman (1993). “Returns to buying winners and selling losers: Implications for stock market efficiency”. In: The Journal of Finance 48.1, pp. 65–91.

  • Carhart, M. M. (1997). “On persistence in mutual fund performance”. In: The Journal of Finance 52.1, pp. 57–82.

  • MacKinlay, A. C. (1997). “Event studies in economics and finance”. In: Journal of economic literature 35.1, pp. 13–39.

  • Kothari, S. P. and J. B. Warner (2007). “Econometrics of event studies”. In: Handbook of empirical corporate finance. Elsevier, pp. 3–36.

Appendix

Rolling OLS params

#> # A tibble: 15 × 5
#>    Term                    Estimate `Std. error` Statistic `P-value`
#>    <chr>                   <chr>    <chr>        <chr>     <chr>    
#>  1 Intercept               0.0002   0.0001       1.2028    0.2291   
#>  2 2021-10-07 - 2021-10-15 0.0090   0.0044       2.0281    0.0426** 
#>  3 2021-10-18 - 2021-10-26 0.0066   0.0043       1.5504    0.1211   
#>  4 2021-10-27 - 2021-11-05 0.0046   0.0040       1.1367    0.2557   
#>  5 2021-11-08 - 2021-11-15 0.0145   0.0049       2.9653    0.0030***
#>  6 2021-11-16 - 2021-11-25 0.0105   0.0043       2.4280    0.0152** 
#>  7 2021-11-26 - 2021-12-03 0.0177   0.0052       3.3894    0.0007***
#>  8 2021-12-06 - 2021-12-15 0.0007   0.0047       0.1582    0.8743   
#>  9 2021-12-16 - 2021-12-24 0.0113   0.0051       2.2283    0.0259** 
#> 10 2021-12-27 - 2022-01-04 0.0051   0.0050       1.0302    0.3029   
#> 11 2022-01-05 - 2022-01-14 0.0279   0.0050       5.6082    0.0000***
#> 12 2022-01-17 - 2022-01-24 0.0511   0.0069       7.4059    0.0000***
#> 13 2022-01-25 - 2022-02-03 0.0322   0.0080       4.0479    0.0001***
#> 14 2022-02-04 - 2022-02-11 0.0422   0.0096       4.4158    0.0000***
#> 15 2022-02-14 - 2022-02-23 0.0910   0.0110       8.2644    0.0000***