IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecb/ecbwps/20212563.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Covid pandemic in the market: infected, immune and cured bonds

Author

Listed:
  • Zaghini, Andrea

Abstract

By focusing on the cost conditions at issuance, I find that not only the Covid-19 pandemic effects were different across bonds and firms at different stages, but also that the market composition was significantly affected, collapsing on investment-grade bonds, a segment in which the share of bonds eligible to the ECB corporate programmes strikingly increased from 15% to 40%. Contemporaneously, the high-yield segment shrunk to almost disappear at 4%. Another source of risk detected in the pricing mechanism is the weak resilience to pandemic: the premium requested is around 30 bp and started to be priced only after the early containment actions taken by the national authorities. On the contrary, I do not find evidence supporting an increased risk for corporations headquartered in countries with a reduced fiscal space, nor the existence of a premium in favour of green bonds, which should be the backbone of a possible “green recovery”. JEL Classification: G15, G32, E52

Suggested Citation

  • Zaghini, Andrea, 2021. "The Covid pandemic in the market: infected, immune and cured bonds," Working Paper Series 2563, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20212563
    Note: 3828417
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/pdf/scpwps/ecb.wp2563~30e67f8e56.en.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Altavilla, Carlo & Barbiero, Francesca & Boucinha, Miguel & Burlon, Lorenzo, 2023. "The Great Lockdown: Pandemic response policies and bank lending conditions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Rüdiger Fahlenbrach & Kevin Rageth & René M Stulz, 2021. "How Valuable Is Financial Flexibility when Revenue Stops? Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis [The risk of being a fallen angel and the corporate dash for cash in the midst of COVID]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5474-5521.
    3. Bolton, Patrick & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2021. "Do investors care about carbon risk?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 517-549.
    4. Stefano Ramelli & Alexander F. Wagner, 2020. "Feverish Stock Price Reactions to COVID-19," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 20-12, Swiss Finance Institute.
    5. De Santis, Roberto A. & Zaghini, Andrea, 2021. "Unconventional monetary policy and corporate bond issuance," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    6. Kremer, Manfred & Lo Duca, Marco & Holló, Dániel, 2012. "CISS - a composite indicator of systemic stress in the financial system," Working Paper Series 1426, European Central Bank.
    7. Viral Acharya & Itamar Drechsler & Philipp Schnabl, 2014. "A Pyrrhic Victory? Bank Bailouts and Sovereign Credit Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(6), pages 2689-2739, December.
    8. repec:ecb:ecbwps:20111426 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Rui Albuquerque & Yrjo Koskinen & Shuai Yang & Chendi Zhang, 2020. "Resiliency of Environmental and Social Stocks: An Analysis of the Exogenous COVID-19 Market Crash," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 593-621.
    10. Ding, Wenzhi & Levine, Ross & Lin, Chen & Xie, Wensi, 2021. "Corporate immunity to the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 802-830.
    11. Jack Bao & Jun Pan & Jiang Wang, 2011. "The Illiquidity of Corporate Bonds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(3), pages 911-946, June.
    12. Fan Li & Andrea Mercatanti & Taneli Mäkinen & Andrea Silvestrini, 2019. "A regression discontinuity design for categorical ordered running variables with an application to central bank purchases of corporate bonds," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1213, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    13. João A. C. Santos, 2014. "Evidence from the bond market on banks’ “Too-Big-to-Fail” subsidy," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Dec, pages 29-39.
    14. Simon Gilchrist & Bin Wei & Vivian Z. Yue & Egon Zakrajšek, 2020. "The Fed Takes on Corporate Credit Risk: An Analysis of the Efficacy of the SMCCF," NBER Working Papers 27809, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Dick-Nielsen, Jens & Feldhütter, Peter & Lando, David, 2012. "Corporate bond liquidity before and after the onset of the subprime crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(3), pages 471-492.
    16. Edwin J. Elton & Martin J. Gruber & Deepak Agrawal & Christopher Mann, 2001. "Explaining the Rate Spread on Corporate Bonds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 247-277, February.
    17. John Y. Campbell & Glen B. Taksler, 2003. "Equity Volatility and Corporate Bond Yields," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2321-2350, December.
    18. Zaghini, Andrea, 2019. "The CSPP at work: Yield heterogeneity and the portfolio rebalancing channel," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 282-297.
    19. De Santis, Roberto A., 2018. "Unobservable country bond premia and fragmentation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1-25.
    20. Wang, Junbo & Wu, Chunchi, 2015. "Liquidity, credit quality, and the relation between volatility and trading activity: Evidence from the corporate bond market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 183-203.
    21. Miklós Koren & Rita Pető, 2020. "Business disruptions from social distancing," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-14, September.
    22. Enrique Alberola-Ila & Yavuz Arslan & Gong Cheng & Richhild Moessner, 2020. "The fiscal response to the Covid-19 crisis in advanced and emerging market economies," BIS Bulletins 23, Bank for International Settlements.
    23. Wagner, Alexander F. & Ramelli, Stefano, 2020. "Feverish Stock Price Reactions to COVID-19," CEPR Discussion Papers 14511, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    24. Gunther Capelle-Blancard & Adrien Desroziers, 2020. "The stock market is not the economy? Insights from the Covid-19 crisis," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-03252106, HAL.
    25. Pierre Collin-Dufresn & Robert S. Goldstein & J. Spencer Martin, 2001. "The Determinants of Credit Spread Changes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2177-2207, December.
    26. Todorov, Karamfil, 2020. "Quantify the quantitative easing: Impact on bonds and corporate debt issuance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 340-358.
    27. Fatica, Serena & Panzica, Roberto & Rancan, Michela, 2021. "The pricing of green bonds: Are financial institutions special?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    28. Abidi, Nordine & Falagiarda, Matteo & Miquel-Flores, Ixart, 2019. "Credit rating dynamics: evidence from a natural experiment," Working Paper Series 2274, European Central Bank.
    29. Philipp Krueger & Zacharias Sautner & Laura T Starks, 2020. "The Importance of Climate Risks for Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1067-1111.
    30. Augustin Landier & David Thesmar, 2020. "Earnings Expectations in the COVID Crisis," NBER Working Papers 27160, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    31. Grosse-Rueschkamp, Benjamin & Steffen, Sascha & Streitz, Daniel, 2019. "A capital structure channel of monetary policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 357-378.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fatica, Serena & Panzica, Roberto, 2021. "Sustainable investing in times of crisis: evidence from bond holdings and the COVID-19 pandemic," Working Papers 2021-07, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    2. Simone Letta & Pasquale Mirante, 2023. "Investigating the determinants of corporate bond credit spreads in the euro area," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 36, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zaghini, Andrea, 2019. "The CSPP at work: Yield heterogeneity and the portfolio rebalancing channel," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 282-297.
    2. Garel, Alexandre & Petit-Romec, Arthur, 2021. "Investor rewards to environmental responsibility: Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Zaghini, Andrea, 2017. "A tale of fragmentation: Corporate funding in the euro-area bond market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 59-68.
    4. Zaghini, Andrea, 2023. "Unconventional green," CFS Working Paper Series 710, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    5. Marco Pagano & Josef Zechner, 2022. "COVID-19 and Corporate Finance [The risk of being a fallen angel and the corporate dash for cash in the midst of COVID]," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 849-879.
    6. Fatica, Serena & Panzica, Roberto, 2021. "Sustainable investing in times of crisis: evidence from bond holdings and the COVID-19 pandemic," Working Papers 2021-07, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    7. Nozawa, Yoshio & Qiu, Yancheng, 2021. "Corporate bond market reactions to quantitative easing during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    8. Hami Amiraslani & Karl V. Lins & Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2023. "Trust, social capital, and the bond market benefits of ESG performance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 421-462, June.
    9. Ferriani, Fabrizio, 2023. "Issuing bonds during the Covid-19 pandemic: Was there an ESG premium?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Goldstein, Michael A. & Namin, Elmira Shekari, 2023. "Corporate bond liquidity and yield spreads: A review," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    11. Barry, John W. & Campello, Murillo & Graham, John R. & Ma, Yueran, 2022. "Corporate flexibility in a time of crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 780-806.
    12. Pagano, Marco & Wagner, Christian & Zechner, Josef, 2023. "Disaster resilience and asset prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(2).
    13. Cakici, Nusret & Zaremba, Adam, 2021. "Who should be afraid of infections? Pandemic exposure and the cross-section of stock returns," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    14. Zaremba, Adam & Kizys, Renatas & Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Aharon, David Y. & Demir, Ender, 2021. "The quest for multidimensional financial immunity to the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from international stock markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    15. Alexandre Garel & Arthur Petit-Romec, 2021. "Investor rewards to environmental responsibility: Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis," Post-Print hal-03204216, HAL.
    16. Neukirchen, Daniel & Engelhardt, Nils & Krause, Miguel & Posch, Peter N., 2022. "Firm efficiency and stock returns during the COVID-19 crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    17. Eisenkopf, Jana & Juranek, Steffen & Walz, Uwe, 2021. "Responsible investment and stock market shocks: Short-term insurance and persistent outperformance post-crisis?," SAFE Working Paper Series 329, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    18. Neukirchen, Daniel & Engelhardt, Nils & Krause, Miguel & Posch, Peter N., 2023. "The value of (private) investor relations during the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    19. Mäkinen, Taneli & Li, Fan & Mercatanti, Andrea & Silvestrini, Andrea, 2022. "Causal analysis of central bank holdings of corporate bonds under interference," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    20. Wagner, Alexander F. & Glossner, Simon & Matos, Pedro Pinto & Ramelli, Stefano, 2022. "Do institutional investors stabilize equity markets in crisis periods? Evidence from COVID-19," CEPR Discussion Papers 15070, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    corporate quantitative easing; Covid pandemic; ECB; green bonds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20212563. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Official Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emieude.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.