The FOMC Risk Shift
98 Pages Posted: 7 Oct 2019
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The FOMC Risk Shift
Date Written: October 2019
Abstract
A large share of stock returns around FOMC meetings is driven by shocks that are uncorrelated with news about risk-free rates but seem closely related to changes in investors' perception of risk. These "FOMC risk shifts" can only partly be traced to fundamental news. However, FOMC risk shifts are accompanied by sizeable shifts in fund flows reminiscent of "risk on/off" modes and strong price pressure, which accounts for up to half of returns. Our results highlight the role of investor heterogeneity as an important factor to understanding the short-term dynamics of stock returns in response to monetary policy news.
Keywords: Equity premium, Fund flows, Monetary Policy Surprises, Portfolio rebalancing, Price pressure
JEL Classification: E44, G10, G12
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation