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Portfolio balance effects of the Swiss National Bank’s bond purchase program

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  • Kettemann, Andreas
  • Krogstrup, Signe

Abstract

This paper carries out an empirical investigation of the impact on bond spreads of the announcement, purchases and exit from the Swiss National Bank’s bond purchase program in 2009–2010. We find evidence in favor of a narrowing yield spread of covered bonds as a result of the program. The effect materialized in the days following the announcement of the Swiss National Bank’s intention to buy bonds issued by private sector borrowers, as markets learned that covered bonds were being bought. The specification of the bond spreads used allows us to identify this effect as a discounted portfolio balance effect of the expected purchases, as distinct from policy signaling. In contrast, we find no evidence of a further effect of the actual purchases and subsequent sales on bond spreads.

Suggested Citation

  • Kettemann, Andreas & Krogstrup, Signe, 2014. "Portfolio balance effects of the Swiss National Bank’s bond purchase program," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 132-149.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jmacro:v:40:y:2014:i:c:p:132-149
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2014.03.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Bernhard, Severin & Ebner, Till, 2017. "Cross-border spillover effects of unconventional monetary policies on Swiss asset prices," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 109-127.
    2. Antonio Diez de los Rios & Maral Shamloo, 2017. "Quantitative Easing and Long-Term Yields in Small Open Economies," IMF Working Papers 2017/212, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Jens H E Christensen & Signe Krogstrup, 2019. "Transmission of Quantitative Easing: The Role of Central Bank Reserves," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(617), pages 249-272.
    4. Daniel Kaufmann, 2019. "Nominal stability over two centuries," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 155(1), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Galema, Rients & Lugo, Stefano, 2021. "When central banks buy corporate bonds: Target selection and impact of the European Corporate Sector Purchase Program," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    6. Daniel Kaufmann, 2015. "Nominal stability and Swiss monetary regimes over two centuries," KOF Working papers 15-379, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    7. Christian Grisse & Silvio Schumacher, 2018. "Term structure dynamics at low and negative interest rates—evidence from Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 154(1), pages 1-17, December.
    8. Dr. Christian Grisse & Dr. Silvio Schumacher, 2017. "The response of long-term yields to negative interest rates: evidence from Switzerland," Working Papers 2017-10, Swiss National Bank.
    9. Gregor Bäurle & Daniel Kaufmann, 2018. "Measuring Exchange Rate, Price, and Output Dynamics at the Effective Lower Bound," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(6), pages 1243-1266, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Portfolio balance; Corporate spread; Unconventional monetary policy; Central bank asset purchases; Zero lower bound;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes

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