Distress risk anomaly during market crises

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Volume Title

School of Business | Bachelor's thesis

Date

2021

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Rahoitus

Language

en

Pages

18+3

Series

Abstract

I study the relationship between distress risk and returns during market crises. I find that over a period from 1973 to 2020 this relationship is negative, which is why it is called the distress risk anomaly. However, during market crises, this relationship reverses completely and becomes positive. This finding indicates that the anomaly is driven by systematic default risk as it is elevated during times of crisis. Only the systematic portion of total default risk is compensated with higher returns. Thus the negative relationship between distress risk and returns over a long period is likely due to the inability to capture systematic default risk.

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Thesis advisor

Kokkonen, Joni

Keywords

distress risk anomaly, systematic default risk, high-yield spreads, distress risk

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