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Credit Risk and the Transmission of Interest Rate Shocks

Author

Listed:
  • Berardino Palazzo

    (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)

  • Ram Yamarthy

    (Office of Financial Research)

Abstract

Using daily credit default swap (CDS) data going back to the early 2000s, we find a positive and significant relation between corporate credit risk and unexpected interest rate shocks around FOMC announcement days. Positive interest rate movements increase the expected loss component of CDS spreads as well as a risk premium component that captures compensation for default risk. Not all firms respond in the same manner. Consistent with recent evidence, we find that firm-level credit risk (as proxied by the CDS spread) is an important driver of the response to monetary policy shocks - both in credit and equity markets - and plays a more prominent role in determining monetary policy sensitivity than other common proxies of firm-level risk such as leverage and market size. A stylized corporate model of monetary policy, firm investment, and financing decisions rationalizes our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Berardino Palazzo & Ram Yamarthy, 2020. "Credit Risk and the Transmission of Interest Rate Shocks," Working Papers 20-05, Office of Financial Research, US Department of the Treasury.
  • Handle: RePEc:ofr:wpaper:20-05
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    Cited by:

    1. Chiţu, Livia & Grothe, Magdalena & Schulze, Tatjana & Van Robays, Ine, 2023. "Financial shock transmission to heterogeneous firms: the earnings-based borrowing constraint channel," Working Paper Series 2860, European Central Bank.
    2. Hummaira Jabeen, 2022. "Monetary Policy Shock Transmission in Emerging Markets," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(4), pages 379-390, December.
    3. Deng, Minjie & Fang, Min, 2022. "Debt maturity heterogeneity and investment responses to monetary policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    4. Lo Duca, Marco & Moccero, Diego & Parlapiano, Fabio, 2024. "The impact of macroeconomic and monetary policy shocks on credit risk in the euro area corporate sector," Working Paper Series 2897, European Central Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    credit risk; CDS; monetary policy; shock transmission; equity returns;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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