Eurozone Equity Market Diversification： Is It Still Worth？

The paper aims at verifying if there still are advantages in diversification inside the Eurozone despite the economic and monetary unification process. The results show unambiguously that notwithstanding the high degree of correlation between the Eurozone stock markets, opportunities for diversification still exist. The introduction of constraints on short selling significantly reduces these benefits. Investors from the European leading countries would have greatly benefitted from a Eurozone portfolio diversification strategy. The advantages of diversification appear to change significantly over time and from country to country. The results are also conclusive in reflecting the instability of the historical mean-variance data.

Does the EVA valuation model explain the market value of equity better under changing required return than constant required return?

Through the Economic-Value-Added(EVA)valuation model,the expected market value of equity can be determined by adding the book value of equity with the present value of expected EVAs under the assumption of constant required return and constant return on equity.The equation of EVA valuation model has taken its shape under the assumption of constant required return and constant return on equity.However,a large body of empirical evidence indicates that required rate of return never remain constant.The EVA-valuation model formulated under constant required return cannot be implemented under the scenario of changing required return.In this study,we explored whether the EVA valuation model could be implemented under changing required return by making any changes in the model and found that it could be implemented under the scenario of changing required return by replacing the book value of the equity of the existing model with the present value of required earnings or normal market earnings.We further examined whether the explanatory ability of the EVA valuation model under the assumption of changing required return is better than that of the valuation model under the assumption of constant required return.Relative information content analyses were conducted by considering sample of the intrinsic value of equities determined by valuation models and the market value of equities of 69 large-cap,88 mid-cap,and 79 small-cap companies.The results showed that the EVA-based valuation model with changing normal market return outperformed the EVA-based valuation model with constant required return.

Will high-frequency trading practices transform the financial markets in the Asia Pacific Region?

High-frequency trading(HFT)practices in the global financial markets involve the use of information and communication technologies(ICT),especially the capabilities of high-speed networks,rapid computation,and algorithmic detection of changing information and prices that create opportunities for computers to effect low-latency trades that can be accomplished in milliseconds.HFT practices exist because a variety of new technologies have made them possible,and because financial market infrastructure capabilities have also been changing so rapidly.The U.S.markets,such as the National Association for Securities Dealers Automated Quote(NASDAQ)market and the New York Stock Exchange(NYSE),have maintained relevance and centrality in financial intermediation in financial markets settings that have changed so much in the past 20 years that they are hardly recognizable.In this article,we explore the technological,institutional and market developments in leading financial markets around the world that have embraced HFT trading.From these examples,we will distill a number of common characteristics that seem to be in operation,and then assess the extent to which HFT practices have begun to be observed in Asian regional financial markets,and what will be their likely impacts.We also discuss a number of theoretical and empirical research directions of interest.

Raising capital amid economic policy uncertainty:an empirical investigation

This paper investigates how economic policy uncertainty affects firms’frequency and their choice of financial instruments to raise capital.By applying a three-step sequential framework over a sample of 6834 publicly listed US non-financial firms,we find that during periods of high economic uncertainty,firms raise capital more frequently with a preference toward debt financing.The empirical findings suggest that firms prefer debt financing over equity financing to avoid ownership dilution and high equity premia.The rise in leverage during periods of high economic uncertainty highlights the importance of scrutinizing policy tools used to stabilize the economy during such times.

Private equity＇s PRC Potential

he private equity （PE） bubble could be about to burst. During the market boom of the past few years, most bonds for funding leveraged buyouts （LBOs） were issued at low interest rates and few covenants. Since the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage cri- sis, global markets have tightened considerably. I believe that the US io-year treasury bond yield will normalize back to 6% and the risk premi- um on bonds will also normalize. The interest rate on bonds for funding LBOs could increase by 4-5 percentage points from the bottom. Such an increase in funding costs would make most LBOs impossible.

Monetary policy, financial development and the financing of zombie firms: evidence from China

This paper examines the financing channels for zombie firms in China.We find that equity markets and suppliers provide substan-tial financing support for zombie firms,while banks and other financing channels are less important.We also find that the amount of investment does not increase accordingly after zombie firms obtain external financing,which indicates an inefficient use of funds by these zombie firms.Our results are robust to various definitions of zombie firms,and also to a propensity score match-ing method.