Financial markets

Financial markets are where savers and borrowers exchange funds. Their well-functioning is critical. This is why we study their structure, participants, regulations and how they are affected by key external changes.

Financial markets consist of markets for money, bonds, equities, derivatives and foreign currencies. It is mainly through these markets that the Bank of Canada’s key policy rate influences interest rates and exchange rates for the Canadian dollar. This, in turn, helps us achieve our monetary policy objectives. As the fiscal agent for the Government of Canada, we are also involved in financial markets through auctions of government securities.

Our research increases our understanding of the structure and functioning of Canadian financial markets and helps us identify ways to support their development and stability.

Examples of areas we are exploring:

  • the ability of and risks to markets absorbing higher levels of government debt
  • what motivates international investors, such as US hedge funds, to participate in the Government of Canada bond market
  • the risks to financial stability from new non-bank players entering the business of intermediating markets
  • important things to consider when designing central bank programs that supply liquidity to market participants
  • the impacts on market structure from things like artificial intelligence and tokenized assets

Government debt market

In recent years, governments around the world, including in Canada and the United States, have issued more debt to support their economies. This large supply of government securities may lead to funding challenges and could distort asset markets. Our research aims to understand the capacity of markets to absorb this debt and its effect on market functioning, financial stability and the transmission of monetary policy.

Market structure and regulation

Another key part of our research is understanding how financial markets adapt to the evolving financial environment and how regulation safeguards stability and market functioning. In many countries, including Canada, fixed-income markets are still primarily over the counter and rely heavily on bank-owned dealers. This reliance can create challenges for dealers managing their balance sheets and, in times of stress, may limit funding to the broader economy. At the same time hedge funds and high-frequency, or principal, trading firms are among the new players acting as intermediaries as these markets digitalize. This change brings both benefits and new risks, which we strive to better understand.

Related research

Search by Title

Content Types

Good Volatility, Bad Volatility and Option Pricing

Staff working paper 2017-52 Bruno Feunou, Cédric Okou
Advances in variance analysis permit the splitting of the total quadratic variation of a jump diffusion process into upside and downside components. Recent studies establish that this decomposition enhances volatility predictions, and highlight the upside/downside variance spread as a driver of the asymmetry in stock price distributions.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods

The Impacts of Monetary Policy Statements

Staff analytical note 2017-22 Bruno Feunou, Corey Garriott, James Kyeong, Raisa Leiderman
In this note, we find that market participants react to an unexpected change in the tone of Canadian monetary policy statements. When the market perceives that the Bank of Canada plans to tighten (or alternatively, loosen) the monetary policy earlier than previously expected, the Canadian dollar appreciates (or depreciates) and long-term Government of Canada bond yields increase (or decrease). The tone of a statement is particularly relevant to the market when the policy rate has been unchanged for some time.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, E5, E52, F, F3, F31, G, G1, G12 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission

Identifying the Degree of Collusion Under Proportional Reduction

Staff working paper 2017-51 Oleksandr Shcherbakov, Naoki Wakamori
Proportional reduction is a common cartel practice in which cartel members reduce their output proportionately. We develop a method to quantify this reduction relative to a benchmark market equilibrium scenario and relate the reduction to the traditional conduct parameter.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C3, C36, D, D2, D22, L, L4, L41 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods

On the Tail Risk Premium in the Oil Market

Staff working paper 2017-46 Reinhard Ellwanger
This paper shows that changes in market participants’ fear of rare events implied by crude oil options contribute to oil price volatility and oil return predictability. Using 25 years of historical data, we document economically large tail risk premia that vary substantially over time and significantly forecast crude oil futures and spot returns.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, C58, D, D8, D84, E, E4, E44, G, G1, G12, G13, Q, Q4, Q43 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness

Digitalization and Inflation: A Review of the Literature

Staff analytical note 2017-20 Karyne B. Charbonneau, Alexa Evans, Subrata Sarker, Lena Suchanek
In the past few years, many have postulated that the possible disinflationary effects of digitalization could explain the subdued inflation in advanced economies. In this note, we review the evidence found in the literature. We look at three main channels.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, E, E3, E31, L, L8, L81, O, O3, O33 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Structural challenges, Digitalization and productivity
Go To Page

Disclaimer

Bank of Canada staff produce research and analysis to support the work of the Bank and to advance knowledge in the fields of economics and finance. The research is non-partisan and evidence based. All research is produced independently from the Bank’s Governing Council. The views expressed in each paper or article are solely those of the authors and may differ from official Bank of Canada views.

On this page
Table of contents

Share this page on Facebook
Share this page on X
Share this page on X
Share this page on LinkedIn
Share this page on LinkedIn Share this page by email