We develop an integrated simulation and optimization framework for multicurrency asset allocation problems. The simulation applies principal component analysis to generate scenarios depicting the discrete joint distributions of uncertain asset returns and exchange rates. We then develop and implement models that optimize the conditional-value-at-risk (CVaR) metric. The scenario-based optimizati...

This article develops a model for evaluating alternative hedging strategies for financially constrained firms. A key advantage of the model is the ability to capture the intertemporal effects of hedging on the firm’s financial situation. We characterize the optimal hedge. A wide range of alternative hedging strategies can be specified and the model allows us to determine in each case if the hed...

This paper addresses the problem of hedging a portfolio of fixed-income cashflows. We first briefly review the traditional duration hedging method, which is heavily used by practitioners. That approach is based on a series of very restrictive and simplistic assumptions, including the assumptions of a small and parallel shift in the yield curve. We know however that large variations can affect t...

This study evaluates the efficiency of cross hedging with single stock futures (SSF) contracts. We propose a new technique for hedging exposure to an individual stock that does not have options or exchange-traded SSF contracts written on it. Our method selects as a hedging instrument a portfolio of SSF contracts which are selected based on how closely matched their underlying firm characteristi...

Merchants operations involves valuing and hedging the cash flows of commodity and energy conversion assets as real options based on stochastic models that inevitably embed model error. In this paper we quantify how empirically calibrated model errors concerning the futures term structure affect the valuation and hedging of natural gas storage. We find that even small futures price model errors ...

While the Gaussian copula model is commonly used as a static quotation device for CDO tranches, its use for hedging is questionable. In particular, the spread delta computed from the Gaussian copula model assumes constant base correlations, whereas we show that the correlations are dynamic and correlated to the index spread. It might therefore be expected that a dynamic model of credit risk, wh...

Substantial progress has been made in developing more realistic option pricing models. Empirically, however, it is not known whether and by how much each generalization improves option pricing and hedging. We ll this gap by rst deriving an option model that allows volatility, interest rates and jumps to be stochastic. Using S&P 500 options, we examine several alternative models from three persp...

A number of important problems in production and inventory control involve optimization of multiple threshold levels or hedging points. We address the problem of finding such levels in a stochastic system whose dynamics can be modelled using generalized semi-Markov processes (GSMP). The GSMP framework enables us to compute several performance measures and their sensitivities from a single simul...

Volatility derivatives are becoming increasingly popular as means for hedging unexpected changes in volatility. Although pricing volatility derivatives demands extreme care in modeling the underlying volatility process, not much attention has been devoted to the complete specification of the autonomous process that volatility follows in continuous time. Despite the fact that jumps are widely co...