The podcast dives deep into how Wall Street prices in the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming election and Trump's potential impact. It highlights the phenomenon of elevated option premiums reflecting the market's fear. Insights from betting platforms and early voting data add an intriguing layer to understanding election probabilities. The discussion also touches on the unusual scenario of high volatility coupled with low correlation in stock prices, unpacking its implications for investors. A compelling look at market behavior and political risk awaits!
The podcast highlights how upcoming political events create heightened market volatility and significant risk premiums in various asset classes.
It discusses the unusual relationship between high implied volatility and low implied correlation, indicating potential mispricing in market expectations.
Deep dives
Understanding Risk-Off Events
Risk-off events are categorized into three types: classic, taper, and liquidation. The classic risk-off occurs when a significant market accident or growth shock triggers a sell-off in stocks while bonds rally, creating a negative correlation. The taper risk-off is characterized by rising bond yields that lead to declines in both stocks and bonds, resulting in a positive correlation; this was notably the experience in 2022. Liquidation risk-off starts similarly to classic risk-off but escalates into broader market panic, where the demand for liquidity drives down both stocks and bonds, requiring intervention from monetary authorities.
Market Reactions to Upcoming Catalysts
As critical events like the upcoming FOMC meeting and the election approach, the market exhibits heightened levels of uncertainty, reflected in increased volatility across various assets. Current implied volatility suggests a significant risk premium, particularly evident in equity and FX markets, indicating that investors are hedging against potential political and economic turmoil. The differing volatilities related to imminent events raises questions about whether the market is overestimating the impact of these uncertainties. This dynamic can be observed in the differing volatilities seen in sectors like TLT and the S&P 500 leading up to these dates.
Questioning Correlation Dynamics
The relationship between implied volatility and implied correlation in the current market reflects unusual dynamics, where high implied volatility coexists with very low implied correlation. This scenario indicates that while investors expect significant market fluctuations, they do not anticipate synchronous movements across sectors and stocks. The distinct low historical correlations among major tech stocks emphasize this point, suggesting a potential mispricing in how correlations are treated. As low realized correlation continues to exert downward pressure on overall realized volatility, cautious investors are advised not to overly rely on traditional correlation metrics.
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Navigating Market Risks and Volatility Before the Election
Is Trump in the price? Wall Street is asking this question. In this podcast, I walk through how the market prices implied volatility around the US Election, focusing on the SPX, TLT and even DJT. As option premiums are much higher than justified by recent realized, there’s an enormous vol risk premium, the result of a withdrawal of vol supply. There’s interesting information coming from betting sites like Polymarket and early voting data as well that might help us better understand the election probabilities and the implications for how the market prices options. Lastly, I consider the relatively rare co-existence of a high VIX but low SPX implied correlation and what that means. I hope you enjoy this discussion and welcome your feedback. Have a great week.
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