The Federal Reserve Board eagle logo links to Board's home page

International Finance Discussion Papers
The International Finance Discussion Papers logo links to the International Finance Discussion Papers home page Bank Positions and Forecasts of Exchange Rate Movements
Michael P. Leahy
1994-486  (October 1994)

Abstract:  Using data on the foreign exchange positions of five leading financial institutions, this paper attempts to determine whether the recent profitability of banks' foreign exchange trading is due to superior abilities to forecast exchange rate movements. Overall, the position data provide evidence that the performances of some financial institutions are 1) better than one might expect if their forecasts were purely random and 2) consistent with the possibility that they may possess information that would be valuable in forecasting changes in exchange rates. The conclusions are limited, however, by the possibility that there exists a time-varying risk premium which is correlated with the positions.

Full paper(185 KB PDF)

PDF files: Adobe Acrobat Reader   ZIP files: PKWARE


Home | IFDPs | List of 1994 IFDPs
Accessibility | Contact Us
Last update: October 16, 2008