Structural or no-arbitrage asset-pricing models emphasize risk factors that cannot be observed directly. We show that the term structure of risk implicit in option prices can reveal these risk factors. Empirically, the variance term structure reveals two predictors of the bond premium, the equity premium, and the variance premium, jointly. Similarly, the term structures of skewness and kurtosis measures also reveal risk factors, but these are subsumed in the predictive content of the variance. The predicted premium is countercyclical and robust to the inclusion of known returns predictors.

We estimate the term structures of risk-neutral forward variance and skewness, and examine their predictive power for equity market excess returns and variance. We use Partial Least Squares to extract a single predictive factor from each term structure that is motivated by the theoretical implications of affine no-arbitrage models. The empirical analysis shows that an increased forward variance factor, FVF (forward skewness factor, FSF) corresponds to a more negatively sloped forward variance (more U-shaped forward skewness) term structure, and significantly forecasts higher future market excess returns and variance. More importantly, FSF exhibits predictive power for market returns that is stronger than, and incremental to, that provided by FVF. However, it does not outperform FVF in terms of excess variance predictability.