← Search

Journal of Banking & Finance Vol. 36 No. 8 2012

Are corporate bond market returns predictable?

Yongmiao Hong1,2; Hai Lin3,4; Chunchi Wu5

1 Cornell University · 2 Xiamen University · 3 Victoria University of Wellington · 4 University of Otago · 5 University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Abstract

This paper examines the predictability of corporate bond returns using the transaction-based index data for the period from October 1, 2002 to December 31, 2010. We find evidence of significant serial and cross-serial dependence in daily investment-grade and high-yield bond returns. The serial dependence exhibits a complex nonlinear structure. Both investment-grade and high-yield bond returns can be predicted by past stock market returns in-sample and out-of-sample, and the predictive relation is much stronger between stocks and high-yield bonds. By contrast, there is little evidence that stock returns can be predicted by past bond returns. These findings are robust to various model specifications and test methods, and provide important implications for modeling the term structure of defaultable bonds.

DOI
10.1016/j.jbankfin.2012.04.001
Volume
36
Issue
8
Pages
2216-2232
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib

Cite