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Hedging or Market Timing? Selecting the Interest Rate Exposure of Corporate Debt
Author(s) -
FAULKENDER MICHAEL
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
the journal of finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 18.151
H-Index - 299
eISSN - 1540-6261
pISSN - 0022-1082
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6261.2005.00751.x
Subject(s) - interest rate , interest rate swap , debt , speculation , monetary economics , interest rate risk , economics , yield curve , interest rate derivative , financial economics , business , finance
This paper examines whether firms are hedging or timing the market when selecting the interest rate exposure of their new debt issuances. I use a more accurate measure of the interest rate exposure chosen by firms by combining the initial exposure of newly issued debt securities with their use of interest rate swaps. The results indicate that the final interest rate exposure is largely driven by the slope of the yield curve at the time the debt is issued. These results suggest that interest rate risk management practices are primarily driven by speculation or myopia, not hedging considerations.