Bitesize: Periodicity of GBP/USD trading activities

Jihyoung Yi.

FX assets are traded continuously across the globe. The majority of GBP/USD trades, however, are executed during typical trading hours in London and New York (NY). Saravelos and Grover (2016) find that: (i) FX moves during these hours are most highly correlated to the overall daily move; and (ii) there is statistically significant periodicity where GBP tends to depreciate in the London morning and appreciate in the NY afternoon against the US dollar.

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Bitesize: 250 years of the bond-equity correlation

Matt Roberts-Sklar.

For most of the 18^th-20^th centuries, government bonds usually behaved like a risky asset. When equity prices fell, bond yields rose, i.e. bond and equity returns were positively correlated (bond prices move inversely to yields). But since the mid-2000s, bond and equity returns have been negatively correlated, i.e. bonds became a hedge for risk. Before this, the last time this correlation was near zero for a prolonged period was the long depression in the late 19^th century.

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Bitesize: How 20-somethings are getting onto the housing ladder in London

Sachin Galaiya.

There are two ways people can make their resources go further when buying a home.

One is to increase the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio and hence increase the amount available to buy a house for a given deposit.

The other is to lengthen the term over which the mortgage is repaid, which increases the size of loan associated with a given level of monthly repayments.

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Bitesize: Mapping the UK’s trade

Jonathan Fullwood.

With trade negotiations apparently looming, one may wonder with whom the UK trades most. Given the geospatial aspect of the data, perhaps a map may help. Even better, how about a cartogram?

Cartograms can be formed by distorting a map so that the areas of countries correspond to the relative values of some measure.

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Bitesize: The improvement in the gender labour force participation gap

Thomas Viegas and Gabija Zemaityte.

Many things have being trending down globally over the recent decades: real interest rates, productivity, world trade, you name it! And it’s generally acknowledged that these falls are problematic for policymakers. However, there is one downward trend which has been welcomed with open arms…

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Bank Underground goes bitesize…

A picture is worth a thousand words…

So starting this week we are launching a new type of bitesize post: short and snappy, based around one or two charts.

To get the ball rolling, the first two will be published today, with more to come later this week. But don’t worry- our longer, regular, posts aren’t disappearing. From next week onwards we’ll be publishing a mixture of bitesize posts and regular length ones.

Enjoy!

John Lewis, Managing Editor