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2 ■ Footnotes
Swap spread 1. CATS are certificates of accrual on
Treasury securities, an early attempt to
1.5
separate the stream of interest rate pay-
ments on government bonds from the
1 principal. DOGS are dibs on government
securities, another attempt.
Quantoes will be explained below.
0.5
2. For a good discussion of this and
related issues, see Anatoli Kuprianov,
0 “The Role of Interest Rate Swaps in
Corporate Finance,” Federal Reserve
Treasury spread Bank of Richmond, Economic
–0.5
Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 3 (Summer
1994), pp. 49–68.
–1
3/15/00 6/23/00 10/1/00 1/9/01 4/19/01 7/28/01 11/5/01 2/13/02 3. For the U.S. dollar, the 16 current
(as of January 2, 2002) panel members
SOURCE: Bloomberg Financial Services. are: Abbey National PLC, the Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd., Bank of
America NT & SA, Barclays Bank
PLC, Citibank AG, Credit Suisse First
exceeded long rates—in the second half Even so, differences between the Trea-
Boston, Deutsche Bank AG, Fuji Bank,
of 2000. While special factors (such as sury and the swaps yield curves can be
HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Lloyds TSB
a riskier market) might explain the fail- very important. Yield curve inversions
Bank PLC, the Norinchukin Bank,
ure to invert, some people suspect a are often taken as a signal of recessions
Rabobank, the Royal Bank of Scotland
deeper reason: that risky yield spreads, in the near future.10 If the swaps curve
Group, UBS AG, Westdeutsche Landes-
more closely tied to firm behavior, rarely inverts, that signal may be miss-
bank AG. For more details, see
invert less often. In an inverted market, ing. On the other hand, perhaps a new
<www.bba.org.uk>.
private firms will issue a lot of longer- signal arises when there is a big spread
term debt in place of short-term debt, between swap rates and Treasury rates. 4. These numbers are from the Interna-
and the resultant supply will drive the tional Swaps and Derivatives Associa-
yield curve slope upward again. tion, “Summary of OTC Derivative
Market Data,” <www.isda.org/statistics/
qtcderiv.html>.
5. Charles Smithson, “Swaps Become 8. See Andrew Osterland, “Good Morn-
the Benchmark,” Risk, April 2001, ing Volatility,” CFO Magazine, July 1,
Joseph G. Haubrich is an economic consul-
pp. 78–79. 2000.
tant and economist at the Federal Reserve
6. Federal Reserve Bulletin, September 9. See Robert N. McCauley, “Bench- Bank of Cleveland.
2001, p. A27, table 1.40. mark Tipping in the Money and Bond The views expressed here are those of the
Markets,” BIS Quarterly Review, March author and not necessarily those of the Federal
7. Some swaps also have market-to- 2001, pp. 39–59. Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the Board of
market provisions for additional safety. Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or
For more information on this and a 10. My favorite reference for this is its staff.
sophisticated view of what determines Joseph G. Haubrich and Ann M. Dom- Economic Commentary is published by the
swap yields, consult Pierre Collin- brosky, “Predicting Real Growth Using
Research Department of the Federal Reserve
Dufresne and Bruno Solnik, “On the the Yield Curve,” Federal Reserve Bank
Term Structure of Default Premia in the of Cleveland, Economic Review, vol. 32, Bank of Cleveland. To receive copies or to be
Swap and LIBOR Markets,” Journal of no. 1 (Quarter 1, 1996), pp. 26–35. For placed on the mailing list, e-mail your request
Finance, vol. 56, no. 3 (June 2001), more on why the swaps curve is gener- to 4d.subscriptions@clev.frb.org or fax it to
pp. 1095–1115. ally steeper, see John Youngdahl, Brad 216-579-3050. Economic Commentary is also
Stone, and Hayley Boesky, “Implica- available at the Cleveland Fed’s site on the
tions of a Disappearing Treasury Debt World Wide Web: www.clev.frb.org/research,
Market,” Journal of Fixed Income, where glossaries of terms are provided.
March 2001, pp. 75–86.
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