The Impact of Containment Measures and Monetary and Fiscal Responses on US Financial Markets During the COVID-19 Pandemic

21 Pages Posted: 9 Jul 2021

See all articles by Emmanuel Joel Aikins Abakah

Emmanuel Joel Aikins Abakah

University of Cape Coast

Guglielmo Maria Caporale

Brunel University London - Department of Economics and Finance; London South Bank University; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)

Luis A. Gil-Alana

University of Navarra - Department of Economics

Date Written: 2021

Abstract

This paper analyses the effects of containment measures and monetary and fiscal responses on US financial markets during the Covid-19 pandemic. More specifically, it applies fractional integration methods to analyse their impact on the daily S&P500, the US Treasury Bond Index (USTB), the S&P Green Bond Index (GREEN) and the Dow Jones (DJ) Islamic World Market Index (ISLAM) over the period 1/01/2020-10/03/2021. The results suggest that all four indices are highly persistent and exhibit orders of integration close to 1. A small degree of mean reversion is observed only for the S&P500 under the assumption of white noise errors and USTB with autocorrelated errors; therefore, market efficiency appears to hold in most cases. The mortality rate, surprisingly, seems to have affected stock and bond prices positively with autocorrelated errors. As for the policy responses, both the containment and fiscal measures had a rather limited impact, whilst there were significant announcement effects which lifted markets, especially in the case of monetary announcements. There is also evidence of a significant, positive response to changes in the effective Federal funds rate, which suggests that the financial industry, mainly benefiting from interest rises, plays a dominant role.

JEL Classification: C220, C320, G150

Suggested Citation

Aikins Abakah, Emmanuel Joel and Caporale, Guglielmo Maria and Gil-Alana, Luis A., The Impact of Containment Measures and Monetary and Fiscal Responses on US Financial Markets During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2021). CESifo Working Paper No. 9163, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3882363 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3882363

Emmanuel Joel Aikins Abakah

University of Cape Coast

PMB, UCC, GHANA
Cape Coast, Central Region PMB
Ghana

Guglielmo Maria Caporale (Contact Author)

Brunel University London - Department of Economics and Finance ( email )

Kingston Lane
Marie Jahoda Building
Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH
United Kingdom
+44 1895 266713 (Phone)
+44 1895 269770 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/acad/bbs/bbsstaff/ef_staff/guglielmocaporale/

London South Bank University ( email )

Centre for Monetary and Financial Economics
London
United Kingdom

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

Luis A. Gil-Alana

University of Navarra - Department of Economics ( email )

Campus de Arrosadia
Pamplona, 31006
Spain

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