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A macroeconomic hedge portfolio and the cross section of stock returns
Author(s) -
Renz Maximilian,
Stotz Olaf
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
review of financial economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.347
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1873-5924
pISSN - 1058-3300
DOI - 10.1002/rfe.1106
Subject(s) - economics , risk premium , portfolio , stock (firearms) , capital asset pricing model , hedge , systematic risk , financial economics , monetary economics , econometrics , mechanical engineering , ecology , engineering , biology
We use a stock's returns on days when important macroeconomic news is released to form a hedge portfolio, which is long (short) in stocks which have a sensitive (insensitive) reaction to the surprise component of the macroeconomic news. This macroeconomic hedge portfolio (MHP) earns a risk premium of about 5% p.a. over time and a similar premium when used as a risk factor in an asset pricing model. This premium can be interpreted as a cost of an insurance against unexpected changes in an investor's marginal utility. We show that risk premiums associated with the MHP are estimated with a higher precision than traditional macroeconomic tracking portfolios. Furthermore, when the MHP is present in a common factor model, risk factors like high minus low lose much of their ability to explain the cross section of stock returns.