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  • June 2012
  • Article
  • Review of Asset Pricing Studies

Comovement and Predictability Relationships Between Bonds and the Cross-Section of Stocks

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

Government bonds comove more strongly with bond-like stocks: stocks of large, mature, low-volatility, profitable, dividend-paying firms that are neither high growth nor distressed. Variables derived from the yield curve that are already known to predict returns on bonds also predict returns on bond-like stocks; investor sentiment, a predictor of the cross section of stock returns, also predicts excess bond returns. These relationships remain in place even when bonds and stocks become "decoupled" at the index level. They are driven by a combination of effects including correlations between real cash flows on bonds and bond-like stocks, correlations between their risk-based return premia, and periodic flights to quality.

Keywords

Relationships; Bonds; Stocks; Investment Return; Cash Flow; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Forecasting and Prediction; Profit

Citation

Baker, Malcolm, and Jeffrey Wurgler. "Comovement and Predictability Relationships Between Bonds and the Cross-Section of Stocks." Review of Asset Pricing Studies 2, no. 1 (June 2012): 57–87.
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About The Author

Malcolm P. Baker

Finance
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • The Pricing and Ownership of U.S. Green Bonds By: Malcolm Baker, Daniel Bergstresser, George Serafeim and Jeffrey Wurgler
  • Dicerna By: Malcolm Baker, Ishita Sen and Jonathan Wallen
  • How Do Investors Value ESG? By: Malcolm Baker, Mark Egan and Suproteem K. Sarkar
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