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Journal of Banking & Finance Vol. 123 2021

The FOMC announcement returns on long-term US and German bond futures

Ivan Indriawan1; Feng Jiao2; Yiuman Tse3

1 Auckland University of Technology · 2 University of Lethbridge · 3 University of Missouri–St. Louis

Abstract

We examine the impact of monetary policy announcements by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on long-term US and German bond futures. Using transaction-level data during the post-financial crisis period, we observe a sizable post-announcement drift in government bond markets. A trading strategy of investing in the market after expansionary shocks and shorting the market following contractionary surprises yields up to four times the Sharpe ratio of buy-and-hold investment. The post-FOMC announcement drift coincides with more informative order flows in the post-announcement period, and it persists for 15 days. Moreover, our study shows an absence of pre-FOMC announcement drift. Our findings shed some light on how the bond markets react to public news arrival.

DOI
10.1016/j.jbankfin.2020.106027
Volume
123
Pages
106027
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib

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