Option prices and implied volatility in the crude oil market

This paper studies the determinants of WTI crude oil call option prices with a special emphasis on the relationship between implied volatility and moneyness. Our first-stage regression estimates a quadratic approximation of implied volatility as a function of moneyness, while our second-stage regression investigates correlations between the estimated parameters and a list of explanatory variables. The first-stage regressions show a positive coefficient on the quadratic term, suggesting that the market exhibits ‘Implied Volatility Smile’ and hence violates the Black-Scholes predictions. The main results of our paper concern the determinants of these violations. We find that the curvature of implied volatility as a function of moneyness is: (i) positively and significantly correlated with basis and hedging pressure of the underlying crude oil futures contract (ii) positively and significantly correlated with various measures of transaction costs on the options market. We explore various explanations for these results. The paper also contains a variety of robustness checks, mostly related to the assumed functional forms.     

A time-varying copula approach to oil and stock market dependence: The case of transition economies

We employ the time-varying copula approach to investigate the conditional dependence between the Brent crude oil price and stock markets in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) transition economies. Our results show evidence of a positive dependence between the oil and the stock markets of the six CEE countries, which is indicative of a contagion between those markets, regardless of the changes in the oil price or the CEE stock index. Moreover, the dependence patterns in both the center and left tails of the return distributions change over time, particularly during the heart of the financial crisis, and are best described by the Survival Gumbel copulas. The empirical evidence also suggests that the lower tail dependence is much stronger than that of the upper tail, highlighting the importance of contagion during severe contractionary business cycles. Among the sample markets, Poland is shown to be particularly sensitive in this regard, while Hungary and Slovenia are the least sensitive.     

Temporal and spectral dependence between crude oil and agricultural commodities: A wavelet-based copula approach

This paper investigates the temporal and frequency domain connectedness between the price of crude oil and ten major agricultural commodities. We decompose returns into short-, medium- and long-run movements using the MODWT and investigate cross-commodities dependence structures in the decomposed returns using a DCC-Student-t copula. The method allows us to analyze variation in dependencies across time as well as frequencies of return movements. Structural variation is considered through subsample analysis. Consistent with previous research, we find that connectedness between oil and agricultural products increases post-2006 across all considered frequencies of return movements. However, the rate of increase is higher for longer investment horizons. The wavelet decomposition reveals that interconnectedness as a function of investment horizon is negative during the pre-2006, but positive during the post-2006 subsample. These findings support stronger connectedness primarily due to stronger connection between long-run return movements. Analysis of connectedness dynamics shows no strong pre- and post-2006 differences, suggesting that the recent higher connectedness is primarily a correlation level effect. We do find that persistence of connectedness variation is higher for long-run return movements. Overall, we document a more connected crude oil and agricultural commodities complex after 2006, with lower commodities diversification benefits in general, and higher correlation risk for longer investment horizons.     

The effects of crude oil shocks on stock market shifts behaviour: A regime switching approach

In this paper we develop a two regime Markov-switching EGARCH model introduced by Henry [Henry, O., 2009. Regime switching in the relationship between equity returns and short-term interest rates. Journal of Banking and Finance 33, 405–414.] to examine the relationship between crude oil shocks and stock markets. An application to stock markets of UK, France and Japan over the sample period January 1989 to December 2007 illustrates plausible results. We detect two episodes of series behaviour one relative to low mean/high variance regime and the other to high mean/low variance regime. Furthermore, there is evidence that common recessions coincide with the low mean/high variance regime. In addition, we allow both real stock returns and probability of transitions from one regime to another to depend on the net oil price increase variable. The findings show that rises in oil price has a significant role in determining both the volatility of stock returns and the probability of transition across regimes.     

Nonparametric panel data model for crude oil and stock market prices in net oil importing countries

This paper introduces an innovative nonparametric panel data approach to model the long-run relationship between the monthly oil price index and stock market price indices of ten large net oil importing countries; namely, the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, India, Germany, France, Singapore, Italy and Spain. In the proposed model, we allow the coefficient on the oil price index to be a time-varying function which evolves over time in a way that is assumed to be unknown. We also allow the common trend function to evolve over time, as well as extending the model further to incorporate country-specific trend functions. We employ a data-driven local linear method to estimate these time-varying trend and coefficient functions. The results show that, despite being largely positive, there are several downward trends, reflecting the aftermath of the Iraq war and the recent unprecedented drop in the oil price. Overall, we find that the nonparametric panel data model better captures the way in which the underlying stock-oil price relationship has evolved over time in comparison to the point estimates of the parametric counterpart. Moreover, we find that stock market fundamentals play a significant role in determining the oil-stock price relationship. Our findings have important implication for policymakers and financial speculators.     

The impact of energy prices: A housing market analysis

This paper investigates the effect of energy costs on the housing market response. As the effect of energy costs has not been specifically investigated before in the literature, both a linear and non-linear model were investigated. The choice of the appropriate model was determined using the Box-Cox transformation technique. The chosen model was then validated. The results reveal that in the Spokane, Washington, area, where energy costs are relatively low, energy prices do not have a significant effect on market response. However, applying the same methodology to areas where energy costs are higher might produce different results.     

A broadened causality in variance approach to assess the risk dynamics between crude oil prices and the Jordanian stock market

Within the new developed causality-in-variance approach, this paper builds up a broad methodological framework to more accurately capture the risk spillover effects between global oil prices and Jordanian stock market returns during the period 1 March 2003–31 January 2014. The sample period is divided, on the basis of the 2008 financial crisis, into pre-crisis and post-crisis periods. Results for the pre-crisis period show a lack of risk spillovers between global oil and the Jordanian stock market. After the crisis, however, we find evidence for one-way risk spillover running from the oil market. These findings have implications for the design of appropriate asset allocation and regulatory policies to manage risk spillover effects.     

Mild explosivity in recent crude oil prices

This paper provides an analysis of oil prices during and in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, concentrating on the 2007–08 price spike and the 2014–16 price decline. The mildly explosive/multiple bubbles testing strategy by Phillips, Shi and Yu (2015, International Economic Review 56(4), 1043–1133) is used to test for price departures from an underlying stochastic trend and to assess whether any such departures can be explained by fundamentals or other proxy variables. The test dates two significant time periods in both Brent and WTI nominal and real front-month futures prices: a mildly explosive episode during the 2007–08 spike, prior to the peak of the Global Financial Crisis; and a significantly shorter, negative such episode during the 2014–16 price decline, whose commencement is dated around a key OPEC meeting in November 2014. Evidence using other commodity prices points to explanatory factors beyond commodity markets. A global economic activity proxy is found to be decisive in the episode in mid-2008; excess speculation is not. U.S. shale oil production, though contributing to the post-June 2014 price decline, is not seen to have been decisive. Against some recent work tying the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) to oil futures prices, we find no evidence that the VIX decisively affected oil price levels during the sample period. The results are compared and contrasted with those obtained by Baumeister and Kilian (2016, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 3, 131-158) via a forecasting approach based on a structural vector autoregressive model without financial variables. Taken altogether, the results herein provide new evidence based on formal statistical testing that helps resolve a number of recent controversies in the oil price literature.     

OPEC announcements and their effects on crude oil prices

We investigate evidence on the effects of OPEC announcements on world oil prices by examining announcements from both official conferences and ministerial meetings on major international crudes, including the key benchmarks and several other heavy and light grades. With data from 1982 to 2008, we use event study methodology and find differentiation in the magnitude and significance of market responses to OPEC quota decisions under different price bands. We also find some (weak) evidence of differentiation between light and heavy crude grades.     

The dynamics of a nonlinear relationship between crude oil spot and futures prices: A multivariate threshold regression approach

This paper segments daily data from January of 1986 to April of 2007 into three periods based on certain important events. Both periods I and II indicate that the spot prices in general are higher than futures prices as was well-known in the literature. Only period-III (2001/9/11–2007/4/30) displays a reverse phenomenon: futures prices, in general, exceed spot prices. When the absolute value of a basis (futures-spot) is greater than the threshold value in the arbitrage area (regime 1 and 3), at least one of the error correction coefficients, representing adjustment towards equilibrium, is statistically significant. That is, there exists a tendency in the oil market in which prices move toward equilibrium. With respect to the short-run dynamic interaction between spot price change (Δs_t) and futures price change (Δf_t), our results indicate that when the spot price is higher than futures price, and the basis is less than certain threshold value (regime 3), there exists at least one causal relationship between Δs_t and Δf_t. Conversely, when the futures price is higher than spot price and the basis is higher than certain threshold value (regime 1), there exists at least one causal relationship between Δs_t and Δf_t. Finally, we use the method suggested by Diebold and Mariano [Diebold, Francis X., Mariano, Roberto S., 1995. Comparing predictive accuracy. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 13 (3), 253–263] to compare the predictive power between the linear and nonlinear models. Our empirical results indicate that the in-sample prediction of the nonlinear model is clearly superior to that of the linear model.     

OPEC and demand response to crude oil prices

This paper investigates demand response to crude oil price movements before and after the recent global financial and economic crisis. It employs several market power indices to structurally estimate price elasticities. A newly developed market power index for crude oil markets is implemented. In this approach OPEC is the central player and acts as a dominant producer in the global oil market. We quantify how a change in market structure (such as changes in marginal cost of production) would contribute to market power exercise of OPEC and have an ultimate impact on price elasticity of demand for oil. Our price elasticity predictions fall in a range reported in the literature, however estimates for pre-crisis deviate from the post-crisis ones. In fact, demand response to crude oil prices has almost doubled during the crisis. This severe change in price response can be associated with record price levels caused by supply shortages and surge in alternative renewable energy resources. The key advantages of this methodology over the existing literature are that it is simple to use and estimates price elasticity using a competition framework without specifying demand/supply function(s), and utilizes commonly observable market variables that can be applied to any admissible data frequency.     

World oil prices and agricultural commodity prices: Evidence from an emerging market

Oil prices are thought to have direct effect on agricultural prices followed by an indirect effect through the exchange rate. This paper examines the short- and long-run interdependence between world oil prices, lira-dollar exchange rate, and individual agricultural commodity prices (wheat, maize, cotton, soybeans, and sunflower) in Turkey. To this end, the Toda-Yamamoto causality approach and generalized impulse-response analysis for identification of the long- and short-run interrelationships are applied to the monthly data spanning from January 1994 to March 2010. The impulse-response analysis suggests the Turkish agricultural prices do not significantly react to oil price and exchange rate shocks in the short-run. The long-run causality analysis reveals that the changes in oil prices and appreciation/depreciation of the Turkish lira are not transmitted to agricultural commodity prices in Turkey. Hence, our results support neutrality of agricultural commodity markets in Turkey to both direct and indirect effects of oil price changes.     

Anticipated and unanticipated effects of crude oil prices and gasoline inventory changes on gasoline prices

This paper examines the effect of anticipated and unanticipated changes in oil prices and gasoline inventory on US gasoline prices. We estimate empirical responses to anticipated and unanticipated changes in oil prices and gasoline inventory and show that gasoline price adjustments are faster and stronger for anticipated changes in oil prices and inventory levels than for unanticipated changes. Furthermore, this difference is statistically significant. We use these findings to evaluate the cost of adjustment hypothesis suggested by Borenstein and Shephard (2002). We also find that there is an asymmetry in the effect of gasoline inventory on gasoline and oil prices. This finding complements a well-known result that positive and negative changes in oil prices have asymmetric effect on gasoline prices.     

Hedging downside risk of oil refineries: A vine copula approach

The financial health of an oil refinery greatly depends on its refining margin or the difference between the prices of its refined products (typically, gasoline and heating oil) and the cost of crude oil. The refinery may hedge against the downside risk of unfavorable price movements using crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil futures. This paper examines the use of a vine copula approach to estimate multiproduct hedge ratios that minimize the downside risk of the refinery. The advantage of the vine copula approach is that it allows us to capture important characteristics of petroleum price changes, including skewness and fat-tailedness in the marginal distributions of individual price change series as well as heterogeneous (tail) dependence patterns between different pairs of price changes. The out-of-sample hedging effectiveness of two popular classes of vine copula models – canonical (C-) and drawable (D-) vine copula models – are evaluated and compared with that of the widely used nonparametric method and three standard multivariate copula models. The empirical results reveal that the D-vine copula model is a good and safe choice in managing the downside risk of the refinery.     

Modelling the impact of oil prices on Vietnam’s stock prices

The goal of this paper is to model the impact of oil prices on Vietnam’s stock prices. We use daily data for the period 2000–2008 and include the nominal exchange rate as an additional determinant of stock prices. We find that stock prices, oil prices and nominal exchange rates are cointegrated, and oil prices have a positive and statistically significant impact on stock prices. This result is inconsistent with theoretical expectations. The growth of the Vietnamese stock market was accompanied by rising oil prices. However, the boom of the stock market was marked by increasing foreign portfolio investment inflows which are estimated to have doubled from US$0.9 billion in 2005 to US$1.9 billion in 2006. There was also a change in preferences from holding foreign currencies and domestic bank deposits to stocks local market participants, and there was a rise in leveraged investment in stock as well as investments on behalf of relatives living abroad. It seems that the impact of these internal and domestic factors were more dominant than the oil price rise on the Vietnamese stock market.     

The impact of oil prices on bioenergy,emissions and land use

We evaluate how alternative future oil prices will influence the penetration of biofuels, energy production, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, land use and other outcomes. Our analysis employs a global economy wide model and simulates alternative oil prices out to 2050 with and without a price on GHG emissions. In one case considered, based on estimates of available resources, technological progress and energy demand, the reference oil price rises to $124 by 2050. Other cases separately consider constant reference oil prices of $50, $75 and $100, which are targeted by adjusting the quantity of oil resources. In our simulations, higher oil prices lead to more biofuel production, more land being used for bioenergy crops, and fewer GHG emissions. Reducing oil resources to simulate higher oil prices has a strong income effect, so decreased food demand under higher oil prices results in an increase in land allocated to natural forests. We also find that introducing a carbon price reduces the differences in oil use and GHG emissions across oil price cases.     

Unit root properties of crude oil spot and futures prices

In this article, we examine whether WTI and Brent crude oil spot and futures prices (at 1, 3 and 6 months to maturity) contain a unit root with one and two structural breaks, employing weekly data over the period 1991–2004. To realise this objective we employ Lagrange multiplier (LM) unit root tests with one and two endogenous structural breaks proposed by Lee and Strazicich [2003. Minimum Lagrange multiplier unit root test with two structural breaks. Review of Economics and Statistics, 85, 1082–1089; 2004. Minimum LM unit root test with one structural break. Working Paper no. 04–17, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University]. We find that each of the oil price series can be characterised as a random walk process and that the endogenous structural breaks are significant and meaningful in terms of events that have impacted on world oil markets.     

Gas market prospects and relationship with oil prices

This paper explains how the international natural gas market is vulnerable because of several specific features and how it will be saturated at least until the year 1990. The share of the gas rent is seen to be the main stake in the negotiations between sellers and buyers. The purpose of this paper is to present some elements enabling an understanding of the logic of gas pricing (net-back method versus parity approach). The paper also analyses to what extent the future price of gas will be ‘disconnected’ from that of crude oil, in the same way as coal.     

Regime-switching stochastic volatility: Evidence from the crude oil market

This paper incorporates regime-switching into the stochastic volatility (SV) framework in an attempt to explain the behavior of crude oil prices in order to forecast their volatility. More specifically, it models the volatility of oil return as a stochastic volatility process whose mean is subject to shifts in regime. The shift is governed by a two-state first-order Markov process. The Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo method is used to estimate the models. The main findings are: first, there is clear evidence of regime-switching in the oil market. Ignoring it will lead to a false impression that the volatility is highly persistent and therefore highly predictable. Second, incorporating regime-switching into the SV framework significantly enhances the forecasting power of the SV model. Third, the regime-switching stochastic volatility model does a good job in capturing major events affecting the oil market.