Variance risk in commodity markets

authored by
Marcel Prokopczuk, Lazaros Symeonidis, Chardin Wese Simen
Abstract

We analyze the variance risk of commodity markets. We construct synthetic variance swaps and find significantly negative realized variance swap payoffs in most markets. We find evidence of commonalities among the realized payoffs of commodity variance swaps. We also document comovements between the realized payoffs of commodity, equity and bond variance swaps. Similar results hold for expected variance swap payoffs. Furthermore, we show that both realized and expected commodity variance swap payoffs are distinct from the realized and expected commodity futures returns, indicating that variance risk is unspanned by commodity futures.

External Organisation(s)
ICMA Centre
University of Reading
University of East Anglia
Type
Article
Journal
Journal of Banking and Finance
Volume
81
Pages
136-149
No. of pages
14
ISSN
0378-4266
Publication date
08.2017
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Finance, Economics and Econometrics
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2017.05.003 (Access: Unknown)