IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jimfin/v116y2021ics026156062100084x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards a dead end? EMU bond market exposure and manager performance

Author

Listed:
  • Konstantinov, Gueorgui S.
  • Fabozzi, Frank J.

Abstract

Using factor models we empirically investigate the performance of European Monetary Union (EMU) bond managers. We find that (1) alpha is time varying, (2) bond managers exhibit alpha in the short run as opposed to long-term prior to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), and (3) bond fund alpha is associated with government bond funds and funds with heavy exposure to government bonds. Our factor models do not detect alpha in corporate and high-yield bond funds on average. We observe that alpha was much higher in the period prior to the GFC that began in 2008. The number of funds in our sample generating alpha dropped significantly after that crisis and remained very low from 2008 to 2017 as EMU markets recovered. We apply three models to evaluate EMU bond fund manager alpha. We use the two bond-market related Fama-French factors – term and default. In addition, we use the three equity market-related Fama-French factors – size, value, and market – together with the momentum factor. We find evidence that the bond market-related Fama-French factors are significant for the EMU bond funds in our sample, but the equity market-related Fama-French factors are not. By applying factor analysis to the returns of EMU bond funds, we (1) identify the economic drivers of EMU bond market returns and (2) show the performance of bond portfolio managers regarding alpha prior to the GFC and explain the possible lack of alpha after the GFC.

Suggested Citation

  • Konstantinov, Gueorgui S. & Fabozzi, Frank J., 2021. "Towards a dead end? EMU bond market exposure and manager performance," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:116:y:2021:i:c:s026156062100084x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jimonfin.2021.102433
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026156062100084X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jimonfin.2021.102433?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Afonso, António & Arghyrou, Michael G. & Gadea, María Dolores & Kontonikas, Alexandros, 2018. "“Whatever it takes” to resolve the European sovereign debt crisis? Bond pricing regime switches and monetary policy effects," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-30.
    2. Michael C. Jensen, 1968. "The Performance Of Mutual Funds In The Period 1945–1964," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(2), pages 389-416, May.
    3. Laurent Barras & Olivier Scaillet & Russ Wermers, 2010. "False Discoveries in Mutual Fund Performance: Measuring Luck in Estimated Alphas," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(1), pages 179-216, February.
    4. Angelidis, Timotheos & Giamouridis, Daniel & Tessaromatis, Nikolaos, 2013. "Revisiting mutual fund performance evaluation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1759-1776.
    5. Perego, Erica, 2020. "Sovereign risk and asset market dynamics in the euro area," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    6. de Haan, Leo & Hessel, Jeroen & van den End, Jan Willem, 2014. "Are European sovereign bonds fairly priced? The role of modelling uncertainty," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 239-267.
    7. Grinblatt, Mark & Titman, Sheridan, 1992. "The Persistence of Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(5), pages 1977-1984, December.
    8. Carvalho, Daniel & Fidora, Michael, 2015. "Capital inflows and euro area long-term interest rates," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 186-204.
    9. Daniel, Kent, et al, 1997. "Measuring Mutual Fund Performance with Characteristic-Based Benchmarks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1035-1058, July.
    10. De Grauwe, Paul & Ji, Yuemei, 2013. "Self-fulfilling crises in the Eurozone: An empirical test," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 15-36.
    11. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard C. Green, 2004. "Mutual Fund Flows and Performance in Rational Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1269-1295, December.
    12. Beirne, John & Fratzscher, Marcel, 2013. "The pricing of sovereign risk and contagion during the European sovereign debt crisis," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 60-82.
    13. Gueorgui Konstantinov, 2016. "Capturing short-term and long-term alpha of global bond portfolios: evidence from EUR-investors’ perspective," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 30(3), pages 337-365, August.
    14. Berk, Jonathan B. & van Binsbergen, Jules H., 2015. "Measuring skill in the mutual fund industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 1-20.
    15. Gergana Jostova & Stanislava Nikolova & Alexander Philipov & Christof W. Stahel, 2013. "Momentum in Corporate Bond Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(7), pages 1649-1693.
    16. repec:ecb:ecbwps:20141798 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    18. Robert Kosowski & Allan Timmermann & Russ Wermers & Hal White, 2006. "Can Mutual Fund “Stars” Really Pick Stocks? New Evidence from a Bootstrap Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 2551-2595, December.
    19. Ammann, Manuel & Kind, Axel & Seiz, Ralf, 2010. "What drives the performance of convertible-bond funds?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2600-2613, November.
    20. Clifford S. Asness & Tobias J. Moskowitz & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2013. "Value and Momentum Everywhere," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 929-985, June.
    21. von Borstel, Julia & Eickmeier, Sandra & Krippner, Leo, 2016. "The interest rate pass-through in the euro area during the sovereign debt crisis," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 386-402.
    22. Zaremba, Adam, 2019. "Cross-sectional seasonalities in international government bond returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 80-94.
    23. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    24. Blake, Christopher R & Elton, Edwin J & Gruber, Martin J, 1993. "The Performance of Bond Mutual Funds," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(3), pages 370-403, July.
    25. Bektic, D. & Wenzler, J.-S. & Wegener, D. & Schiereck, D. & Spielmann, T., 2019. "Extending Fama–French Factors to Corporate Bond Markets," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 117111, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    26. Gerhard Hambusch & KiHoon Jimmy Hong & Ellenora Webster, 2015. "Enhancing Risk-Adjusted Return Using Time Series Momentum in Sovereign Bonds," Published Paper Series 2015-4, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    27. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    28. Bektic, D. & Wenzler, J.-S. & Schiereck, D. & Spielmann, T., 2019. "Extending Fama-French Factors to Corporate Bond Markets," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 113059, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    29. Moneta, Fabio, 2015. "Measuring bond mutual fund performance with portfolio characteristics," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 223-242.
    30. Chen, Yong & Ferson, Wayne & Peters, Helen, 2010. "Measuring the timing ability and performance of bond mutual funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 72-89, October.
    31. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    32. Long Chen & David A. Lesmond & Jason Wei, 2007. "Corporate Yield Spreads and Bond Liquidity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 119-149, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Otero-González, Luis & Leite, Paulo & Durán-Santomil, Pablo & Domingues, Renato, 2022. "Morningstar Star ratings and the performance, risk and flows of European bond mutual funds," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 479-496.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mason, Andrew & Agyei-Ampomah, Sam & Skinner, Frank, 2016. "Realism, skill, and incentives: Current and future trends in investment management and investment performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 31-40.
    2. Andrew Clare & Mariana Clare, 2019. "An examination of ex ante fund performance: identifying indicators of future performance," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 175-195, May.
    3. Huang, Rong & Pilbeam, Keith & Pouliot, William, 2021. "Do actively managed US mutual funds produce positive alpha?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 472-492.
    4. Cuthbertson, Keith & Nitzsche, Dirk & O'Sullivan, Niall, 2008. "UK mutual fund performance: Skill or luck?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 613-634, September.
    5. Dahlquist, Magnus & Odegaard, Bernt Arne, 2018. "A Review of Norges Bank's Active Management of the Government Pension Fund Global," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2018/1, University of Stavanger.
    6. Stephen A. Gorman & Frank J. Fabozzi, 2021. "The ABC’s of the alternative risk premium: academic roots," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(6), pages 405-436, October.
    7. Hunter, David & Kandel, Eugene & Kandel, Shmuel & Wermers, Russ, 2014. "Mutual fund performance evaluation with active peer benchmarks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 1-29.
    8. Agyei-Ampomah, Sam & Clare, Andrew & Mason, Andrew & Thomas, Stephen, 2015. "On luck versus skill when performance benchmarks are style-consistent," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 127-145.
    9. H. Pierre Hsieh & Imen Tebourbi & Wen‐Min Lu & Nai‐Yu Liu, 2020. "Mutual fund performance: The decision quality and capital magnet efficiencies," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(5), pages 861-872, July.
    10. Mateus, Irina B. & Mateus, Cesario & Todorovic, Natasa, 2019. "Review of new trends in the literature on factor models and mutual fund performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 344-354.
    11. Du, Ding & Huang, Zhaodan & Blanchfield, Peter J., 2009. "Do fixed income mutual fund managers have managerial skills?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 378-397, May.
    12. Chen, Li-Wen & Adams, Andrew & Taffler, Richard, 2013. "What style-timing skills do mutual fund “stars” possess?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 156-173.
    13. Hung, Pi-Hsia & Lien, Donald & Kuo, Ming-Sin, 2020. "Window dressing in equity mutual funds," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 338-354.
    14. Cai, Biqing & Cheng, Tingting & Yan, Cheng, 2018. "Time-varying skills (versus luck) in U.S. active mutual funds and hedge funds," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 81-106.
    15. Wolfgang Bessler & Thomas Conlon & Diego Víctor de Mingo‐López & Juan Carlos Matallín‐Sáez, 2022. "Mutual fund performance and changes in factor exposure," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(1), pages 17-52, March.
    16. Grose, Chris & Dasilas, Apostolos & Alexakis, Christos, 2014. "Performance persistence in fixed interest funds: With an eye on the post-debt crisis period," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 155-182.
    17. Zaremba, Adam & Czapkiewicz, Anna, 2017. "The cross section of international government bond returns," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 171-183.
    18. Pi‐Hsia Hung & Donald Lien & Yun‐Ju Chien, 2020. "Portfolio concentration and fund manager performance," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(3), pages 423-451, July.
    19. Braun, Alexander & Ben Ammar, Semir & Eling, Martin, 2019. "Asset pricing and extreme event risk: Common factors in ILS fund returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 59-78.
    20. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2015. "Scale and skill in active management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 23-45.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Alpha; Manager performance; Factor models; EMU bond funds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C2 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:116:y:2021:i:c:s026156062100084x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30443 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.