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Safe Asset Carry Trade

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  • Benedikt Ballensiefen
  • Angelo Ranaldo

Abstract

We provide an asset pricing analysis of one of the main categories of near-money or safe assets, the repurchase agreement (repo). Heterogeneity in repo rates allows for a remunerative carry trade. The return on this carry trade, our carry factor, together with a market factor explain the temporal and cross-sectional variation in repo rates within a no-arbitrage framework: While the market factor determines the level of short-term interest rates, the carry factor accounts for the cross-sectional dispersion. Consistent with the safe asset literature, the carry factor reflects heterogeneity in convenience premia and is explained by the safety premium, the liquidity premium, and the opportunity cost of holding money.

Suggested Citation

  • Benedikt Ballensiefen & Angelo Ranaldo, 2019. "Safe Asset Carry Trade," Working Papers on Finance 1909, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance, revised Oct 2019.
    • Handle: RePEc:usg:sfwpfi:2019:09
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    Cited by:

    1. Ranaldo, Angelo & Schaffner, Patrick & Vasios, Michalis, 2021. "Regulatory effects on short-term interest rates," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 750-770.
    2. Eisenschmidt, Jens & Ma, Yiming & Zhang, Anthony Lee, 2024. "Monetary policy transmission in segmented markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Safe Asset; Near-Money Asset; Repo; Carry Trade; Asset Pricing; Short-Term Interest Rates; Convenience Premium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E41 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Demand for Money
    • G00 - Financial Economics - - General - - - General
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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