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    Screen informed and uninformed credit issuers

    Thursday, May 13th, 2010

    In this section we return to the transparency of financial markets, which was introduced in Chapter 1. The degree of transparency is relevant because it influences traders’ strategies, hence the pricing process. However, given the great variety of aspects, assessing the effects of pre-trade transparency on market quality is complicated, so it is not surprising that the results offered by the literature differ significantly depending on the market structure considered and the type of information revealed.

    If one models transparency as the increased visibility of the liquidity suppliers’ order flows, the effects of pre-trade transparency on market quality will show the benefits of the reduction in adverse selection costs for liquidity and uninformed traders’ welfare.

    Clearly, when liquidity suppliers can screen informed and uninformed traders, they can also offer liquidity on better terms to the uninformed. If, however, pre-trade transparency is modelled as the visibility of traders’ identification codes, the effects on market quality can differ, as has been shown by Foucault, Moinas and Theissen (2007) and Rindi (2008). Finally, an often-debated question is the relationship between clients and intermediaries, given that the latter enjoy privileged information on the motivation for their clients’ trades and can exploit this by acting as a counterpart in the trades (dual capacity trading (Röell, 1990) or trading before the clients (front running)).

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    Posted in real estate, research, stocks, strategy elements, taxes | Comments Off

    The level of implied credit volatility

    Sunday, October 25th, 2009

    The level of implied volatility is a widely used indicator for risk appetite, and, on the individual company level, for the uncertainty related to future earnings. It is also considered a good measure of equity-market risk, because the higher the implied volatility the higher the price of equity options, and thus the higher the cost of insuring against equity-market downturns. Corporate bond spreads reflect the compensation that the investors demand for taking on credit risk. While the debt and equity markets’ estimates of risk, as explained by the Merton model, tend to move together, temporary disconnections do occur. The combination of low levels of implied equity volatility and wide credit spreads suggests the potential for the credit spreads to tighten, as the divergence in the equity and credit market eventually gets corrected. Conversely, when implied equity volatility appears high relative to credit spreads, credit markets are more optimistic about business risks in the corporate sector. The decoupling in the second half of 2003, however, was not an indication that credit spreads were rich relative to implied equity volatility. Rather credit markets were faster to cash in on the reduced risks in the corporate sector because of the massive balance sheet deleveraging, especially in the telecom sector.

    Corporate managers were selling off assets, issuing equity and keeping cash for the debtholders, as opposed to using the cash to buy back stock for the first time in 10 years. By the end of the year, equity volatility came down significantly, closing the gap in the assessment of risk.

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    Posted in payments, profitability, real estate, research, stocks, strategy elements, taxes | Comments Off

    Check your goals – part 2

    Saturday, August 1st, 2009

    Identify the key steps toward the goal. Knowing the steps the company needs to take to reach its goal is as important as identifying the goal itself. Sometimes entrepreneurs trust too much in their enthusiasm and spirit. That may be enough to motivate their employees, but leaders must plan their campaigns.

    So, to sum it all up, you should know what you’re doing (your business) and how you’re doing it (your philosophy). You should recognize who else is out there in your way (your competitors) and decide what sets you ahead of them (your major advantages). Then, you determine where you want to go with your business (your goals) and how you intend to get there (your key steps). All of that forms your business strategy.

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    Posted in business goals, business publications, business strategy, campaigns, payments, research | Comments Off

    Check your goals – part 1

    Saturday, August 1st, 2009

    The quickest way to shortcut both a strategy and a goal is to specialize: Your company and your product or service are the same. Identify one core goal and go for it. Of course, this approach won’t work for diversified companies, although it should apply within each division.

    Articulate your goals as clearly as possible. For example, the manufacturer who wants to develop three new product lines is more likely to do it than the manufacturer who simply wants to “grow.” The more specific a company can be in setting its goals, researchers have found, the more likely it is it will reach that goal.

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    Posted in business patterns, business publications, financial principles, management, merchandise, research | Comments Off