W e study the nonstandard optimal exercise policy associated with relevant capital investment options and with the prepayment option of widespread collateralized-borrowing contracts like the gold loan. Option exercise is optimally postponed not only when moneyness is insufficient, but also when it is excessive. We extend the classical optimal exercise properties for American options. Early exercise of an American call with a negative underlying payout rate can occur if the option is moderately in the money. We fully characterize the existence, the monotonicity, the continuity, the limits, and the asymptotic behavior at maturity of the double free boundary that separates the exercise region from the double continuation region. We find that the finite-maturity nonstandard policy conspicuously differs from the infinite-maturity one.
We study a dynamic asset allocation problem in which stock returns exhibit short-run momentum and long-run mean reversion. We develop a tractable continuous-time model that captures these two predictability features and derive the optimal investment strategy in closed form. The model predicts negative hedging demands for medium-term investors, and an allocation to stocks that is nonmonotonic in the investor's horizon. Momentum substantially increases the economic value of hedging time variation in investment opportunities. These utility gains are preserved when we impose realistic borrowing and short-sales constraints and allow the investor to trade on a monthly frequency.portfolio choice, investment criteria, financial institutions, investment
We use equity as the traded primitive for a detailed analysis of systematic default risk. Default is parsimoniously represented by equity value hitting the zero barrier so that, unlike in reduced-form models, the explicit linkage to the firm's capital structure is preserved, but, unlike in structural models, restrictive assumptions on the structure are avoided. Default risk is either jump-like or diffusive. The equity price can jump to default: In line with recent empirical evidence on the jump-to-default risk price, we highlight how reasonable choices of the pricing kernel can imply remarkable differences in the equity-price-dependent status between the objective default intensity and the risk-neutral intensity. As equity returns experience negative diffusive shocks, their CEV-type local variance increases and boosts the objective and risk-neutral probabilities of diffusive default. A parsimonious version of our general model simultaneously enables analytical credit-risk management and analytical pricing of credit-sensitive instruments. Easy cross-asset hedging ensues.JEL-Classification: G12, G33.
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