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Lecourt

Publications

Do jumps mislead the FX market?Journal articleSébastien Laurent, Jean-Yves Gnabo, Jérôme Lahaye and Christelle Lecourt, Quantitative Finance, Volume 12, Issue 10, pp. 1521-1532, 2012

This paper investigates the link between jumps in the exchange rate process and rumours of central bank interventions. Using the case of Japan, we analyse specifically whether jumps trigger false reports of intervention (i.e. an intervention is reported when it did not occur). Intraday jumps are extracted using a non-parametric technique recently proposed by Lee and Mykland in 2008 and by Andersen et al . in 2007, and later modified by Boudt et al . in 2011. Rumours are identified by using a unique database of Reuters and Dow Jones newswires. Our results suggest that a significant number of jumps on the YEN/USD have been falsely interpreted by the market as being the result of a central bank intervention. The paper has policy implications in terms of central bank interventions. We show that in times where the central bank is known to intervene, some investors may attach a lot of weight to central bank interventions as a source of exchange rate movement, leading to a false ‘intervention explanation’ for observed jumps.
Does transparency in central bank intervention policy bring noise to the FX market?: The case of the Bank of JapanJournal articleSébastien Laurent, Jean-Yves Gnabo and Christelle Lecourt, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Volume 19, Issue 1, pp. 94-111, 2009

This paper empirically investigates the induced effect of a more and less transparent central bank intervention (CBI) policy on rumors that can emerge. Using the case of Japan, we estimate a dynamic-probit model that explains the main determinants of false reports (i.e. falsely reported interventions) and anticipative rumors (i.e. rumors about future interventions) with reference to the intervention strategy adopted by the central bank for actual and oral interventions, and the uncertainty climate of the market captured by two volatility measures. Our results suggest that the induced effect of a transparent CBI policy on market rumors critically depends on the type of speeches made by officials.
Foreign exchange intervention policy: With or without transparency? The case of JapanJournal articleJean-Yves Gnabo and Christelle Lecourt, Economie internationale, Issue 113, pp. 5-34, 2008

Cet article analyse différents aspects de la transparence des politiques de change. Il se concentre plus précisément sur l’évolution du degré de transparence de la politique de change japonaise au cours de ces dernières années et sur son impact sur la perception des agents. Pour conduire l’analyse, une base de données caractérisant la nature de la politique d’intervention et la perception du marché sur la période 1991 to 2004 a été créée. Les résultats montrent que différentes stratégies furent adoptées au cours du temps. Ces stratégies ont un impact contrasté sur la perception du marché. Il apparaît en particulier que les discours dévoilant les préférences des autorités en terme de taux de change (interventions orales) introduisent de la confusion dans le marché. À l’inverse, les discours visant à confirmer une intervention réelle (i.e. transaction sur le marché des changes) sont accompagnés de moins d’incertitude. Ces résultats suggèrent que les interventions sont un instrument utile pour les banques centrales, à condition que les autorités interviennent et parlent au marché de manière appropriée.Classification JEL : E58 ; F31 ; G15.
Official central bank interventions and exchange rate volatility: Evidence from a regime-switching analysisJournal articleMichel Beine, Sébastien Laurent and Christelle Lecourt, European Economic Review, Volume 47, Issue 5, pp. 891-911, 2003

No abstract is available for this item.
Accounting for conditional leptokurtosis and closing days effects in FIGARCH models of daily exchange ratesJournal articleMichel Beine, Sébastien Laurent and Christelle Lecourt, Applied Financial Economics, Volume 12, Issue 8, pp. 589-600, 2002

This paper, estimates FIGARCH models introduced by Baillie et al. (1996a) for the four major daily exchange rates against the USD (DEM, FRF, YEN and the GBP). The former contributions are extended by accounting for the observed kurtosis through a Student- t based maximum likelihood estimation and by including variables capturing the effect of closing days. These estimations suggest that the introduction of these features improves the goodness of fit properties of the model on the one hand, and may lead to different interest parameters estimates on the other hand. In particular, it is shown that in the case of the DEM, volatility shocks may display much less persistence than documented by previous studies. Finally, it is shown that an ARFIMA-FIGARCH framework turns out to be relevant for all the currencies (except the GBP), without inducing any significant changes in the inference of the stochastic volatility process.
L'impact des signaux de politique monétaire sur la volatilité intrajournalière du taux de change Deutsche Mark-dollarJournal articleAurélie Boubel, Sébastien Laurent and Christelle Lecourt, Revue Économique, Volume 52, Issue 2, pp. 353-370, 2001

[fre] Dans cet article, nous étudions l'impact des signaux de politique monétaire issus des réunions du Conseil de la Bundesbank et du FOMC sur la volatilité intrajournalière du taux de change Deutsche Mark-dollar (fréquence à cinq minutes). Pour ce faire, nous estimons un modèle AR(1)-GARCH(1,1) qui incorpore une structure polynomiale elle-même fonction des variables de signal, sur la série désaisonnalisée de rendements du taux de change. Cette structure nous permet, en outre, de tester la persistance de ces signaux sur l'heure qui suit leur envoi et de mettre en évidence une dissymétrie entre l'effet des signaux de la Bundesbank et de la Fed sur la volatilité du taux de change.
[eng] The impact of monetary policy signals on the intradaily deutsche mark-dollar volatility. . In this paper, we investigate the impact of monetary policy signals stemming from the Bundesbank Council and the FOMC on the intradaily Deutsche Mark-dollar volatility (five minutes frequency). For that, we estimate an AR(1)-GARCH(1,1) model, which integrates a polynomials structure depending on signal variables, on the deseasonalized exchange rate returns series. This structure allows us to test the signals persistence one hour after their occurrence and to reveal a dissymmetry between the effect of the Bundesbank and the Federal Reserve signals on the exchange rate volatility.