We consider the standard Credit Default Swap (CDS) payoff and some alternative approximated versions, stemming from different conventions on the premium and protection legs. We consider standard running CDS (RCDS), upfront CDS and postponed-payments running CDS (PRCDS). Each different definition implies a different definition of forward CDS rate, which we consider with some detail. We introduce...

We examine what are common factors that determine systematic credit risk and estimate and interpret the common risk factors. We also compare the contributions of common factors in explaining the changes of credit default swap (CDS) spreads during the pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis period. Based on the testing result from the common principal components model, this study finds that the eigen...

The term structure of credit default swap (CDS) spreads contains useful information about the firm’s fundamentals. Companies with a high CDS slope tend to experience increases in default risk, negative earning surprises and lower profitability in the future. Such information gets incorporated only gradually into stock prices. Firms in the lowest decile of CDS slope outperform the highest decile...

In this paper, I show that a sizable component of emerging market sovereign yield spreads is due to factors other than default risk such as liquidity. I estimate the non-default component of the yield spreads as the basis between the actual credit default swap (CDS) premium and the hypothetical CDS premium implied by emerging market bond yields. On average, the basis is large and positive for s...

Corporate credit default swap (CDS) premium is the market price of credit risk posed by a corporate obligor. Although corporate CDS are commonly used for risk benchmarking in accounting and credit risk management, liquid CDS are limited to less than 500 corporate names globally. CDS users must either confine their usage to this limited subset or resort to aggregates derived from the liquid CDS ...

Using the reduced form framework with inter-dependent default correlation, we perform valuation of credit default swap with counterparty risk. The inter-dependent default risk structure between the protection buyer, protection seller and the reference entity in a credit default swap are characterized by their correlated default intensities, where the default intensity of one party increases whe...

We study the determinants of Credit Default Swap (CDS) spreads through quantile regressions. In addition to traditional variables, the results indicate that CDS spreads are also determined by illiquidity costs. However, contrary to stocks or bonds, we show that CDS transaction costs should be measured by absolute, rather than relative, bid-ask spreads. Quantile regressions indicate that both th...

Counterparty credit risk has become one of the highest-profile risks facing participants in the financial markets. Despite this, relatively little is known about how counterparty credit risk is actually priced. We examine this issue using an extensive proprietary data set of contemporaneous CDS transaction prices and quotes by 14 different CDS dealers selling credit protection on the same under...

This study evaluates the impact of earnings on firm credit risk as captured by Credit Default Swaps (CDS). We find that earnings (changes) are negatively correlated with one-year swap premia (changes) after controlling for equity returns but not with longer term premia (changes). We also find that earnings surprises are significantly correlated with one-year CDS premia changes in the short wind...

We examine the correlation in credit risk using credit default swap (CDS) data. We find that the observable risk factors at the firm, industry, and market levels and the macroeconomic variables cannot fully explain the correlation in CDS spread changes, leaving at least 30 percent of the correlation unaccounted for. This finding suggests that contagion is not only statistically but also economi...