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Do Credit Default Swaps Mitigate the Impact of Credit Rating Downgrades?

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  • Sudheer Chava
  • Rohan Ganduri
  • Chayawat Ornthanalai

Abstract

We find that a firm’s stock price reaction to its credit rating downgrade announcement is muted by 44–52% when credit default swaps (CDSs) trade on its debt. We explore the role of the CDS markets in providing information ex ante and relieving financing frictions ex post for downgraded firms. We find that the impact of CDS trading is more pronounced for firms whose debt financing is more dependent on credit ratings (e.g., those rated around the speculative-grade boundary, those with a higher number of rating-based covenants). Reductions in debt and investment, and the increase in financing costs are less severe for CDS firms than non-CDS firms following an identical credit rating downgrade. Our results suggest that CDSs mute the stock market reaction to a credit rating downgrade by alleviating the financing frictions faced by downgraded firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Sudheer Chava & Rohan Ganduri & Chayawat Ornthanalai, 2019. "Do Credit Default Swaps Mitigate the Impact of Credit Rating Downgrades?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(3), pages 471-511.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:revfin:v:23:y:2019:i:3:p:471-511.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kozłowski, Łukasz & Podgórski, Błażej & Winkler-Drews, Tadeusz, 2020. "Do political connections shield from negative shocks? Evidence from rating changes in advanced emerging economies," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
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    6. Cuadros-Solas, Pedro Jesús & Salvador Muñoz, Carlos, 2022. "Disentangling the sources of sovereign rating adjustments: An examination of changes in rating policies following the GFC," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Ya-Fang Wang & Yu-Chu Hsieh, 2023. "Credit Rating and Board Evaluation of Family Firms," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 16(1), pages 7-18, October.
    8. Clark, Brian & Donato, James & Francis, Bill B & Shohfi, Thomas D, 2023. "Bank loan renegotiation and credit default swaps," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    9. Alessio Piccolo & Joel Shapiro, 2022. "Credit Ratings and Market Information," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(10), pages 4425-4473.
    10. Kiesel, Florian & Kolaric, Sascha & Norden, Lars & Schiereck, Dirk, 2021. "To change or not to change? The CDS market response of firms on credit watch," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit ratings; Credit default swaps; Financial regulations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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