Addressing environmental issues has been a top priority in recent years all over the world. There are several options on how to address this problem also from a financial perspective. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how green bond issuance announcement impacts publicly traded stock prices through cumulative abnormal return (CAR) perspective. We focused our scope only to the Swedish market. Theory is based on three different models: the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), the market model, and the market return model, which all have been applied also in previous studies. Several previous studies indicate that there is a positive CAR around the bond announcement date. In our case findings based on all three models were, that there in fact is evidence of CAR in the Swedish market at different event windows. The strongest relationships were found in event windows five days before the event date and up to twenty days post-event date. These results could be an indicator, that investors are valuating green bonds positively, and therefore for companies it might be beneficial to engage in more environmentally friendly project financing.

Background:  A growing momentum around the potential of impact investing to contribute to development in both environmental and social sustainability has challenged the way business is operating, offering solutions for both the people and planet. Previous studies have claimed that trade-offs between purpose and profit are inevitable in order to successfully achieve sustainability goals, which requires practitioners in the financial discipline to invent new investment approaches to manage dual outcomes. Here, it becomes evident to move beyond trade-offs to avoid that one goal outperforms the other, considered as a vital question to address towards a new investment paradigm.  Purpose:  This study aims to explore the nexus between social impact and financial return, and thus understand the different factors that enable managers in the impact investing industry to successfully manage the trade-offs between pursuing dual values.     Method:  An interpretivist approach is followed throughout the study with an exploratory nature that is used to analyze two company cases. In total, two participants were interviewed through qualitative and semi-structured questions; two managers in the impact investing field.   Conclusion:  The findings reveal the interconnection of impact measurement, values and impact management. The authors have derived a model that graphically represents the Impact-Return Nexus Model (IRNM) which enhances the impact awareness and long-term value creation. The result of this study shows how the synergy between social impact and financial return will improve the performance on both sides. Accordingly, the cases present that a nuanced impact-approach tends to scale both impact and profits.

This study examines the relationship between discounts on Swedish closed-end investment companies and abnormal return. By sorting Swedish investment companies by the size of their discounts, we create monthly portfolios over a period of 15 years and construct a hedge-portfolio which generate an annualised abnormal return of 9.99%. However, in contrast to prior research, we find that the hedge-portfolio’s abnormal return is penalised by the short portfolio, which exhibits positive abnormal return. This suggests that extreme negative sentiments appear to be more pervasive than positive sentiments on the Swedish market. Hence, we argue that a strategy of only investing in investment companies with the top third of discounts is superior in a Swedish context. This strategy yields an annualised abnormal return of 13.21%.

Disturbance is fundamental to forest ecosystem function and overall health, but climate change is likely to increase both disturbance frequency and intensity in the future. Forests subject to increasingly frequent and intense disturbances are more likely to experience compounding disturbance effects. Compounding disturbances may exert unpredicted, non-additive stresses on ecosystems, leading to novel conditions that may exceed the capacity for local species to survive and regenerate. I further hypothesize that compounding disturbances could create conditions misaligned with species’ adaptations by altering physical and chemical growing conditions in forest soils, affecting forest composition, structure, and, subsequently, function for many years following disturbance. A better understanding of these remnant effects will be essential to managing and conserving coast redwood forests, which are projected to see increased frequency of fire under future climate scenarios. My objectives in this study were to quantify the effects of time-since-fire and single vs. compounding disturbances on coast redwood forest structure, composition, and regeneration dynamics and to evaluate the effects of abiotic soil qualities on post-fire regeneration. I mapped and sampled coast redwood forests burned in 1985, both 1985 and 1999, 2008, and 2013; modeled regeneration as a function of burn history, understory light, and post-fire nutrient levels; and tested redwood seed regeneration in post-fire soils in a greenhouse experiment. Forest structure, composition, and regeneration following compounding disturbance were most similar to the homogenous, redwood-dominated forest of the recent 2013 burn. There were no unique effects of compounding disturbance on soil nutrient levels, although variations in nutrient levels generally followed patterns seen in previous studies. Soil nitrate was positively associated with coast redwood regeneration levels, showing that soil nutrients may be influential in regeneration processes following disturbance. Time since burn and single burn histories were negatively associated with regeneration levels in the field, and there were no differences in seed germination in the greenhouse between soils from different fire histories. Increases in coast redwood forest dominance accompanied declines in bay laurel and tanoak presence, indicating a shift in post-fire forest structure and composition resulting from compounding disturbance. These results illustrate a complex relationship between regeneration dynamics, post-fire soil quality, and disturbance histories. Forest homogenization from compounding disturbances may have negative implications for ecosystem services and overall function if compounding disturbances are more frequent as predicted under future climate conditions.

The respective master's thesis examines the relationship between frames and narratives and how they resonate with images on social media. In the present thesis I research how Israel Defense Forces framed the protests in Gaza also known as the Great March of Return from 30 March 2018 to 30 March of 2019 on Twitter. While analyzing the twitter account of Israel Defense Forces, I apply Entman's (1993) elements of framing and identify broader strategic narratives that Israel currently employs. The broader strategic narratives include "Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East"; "Israel as a startup nation" and "Israel as the leader in combating Islamic terrorism". In the theoretical part I also reflect on previous research and studies engaging with social media and its use by militaries. In the analytical part I identify individual frames that Israel Defense Forces have repeatedly employed during the protests in the respective timeframe. Each frame is accompanied by visual content and if available by the strategic narratives.

This study will apply the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to help understand the relationship between traded real estate companies and their respective financial markets. The aim will be to quantitatively explain the link between real estate companies holding different asset types within their portfolio and their traded financial markets using betas from CAPM. Some companies have preferences towards one type of real estate assets; which could be referred to as "portfolio bias." On the other hand some companies have a portfolio bias towards diversification and hold a portfolio of diversified assets. This study will examine how diversification plays a role in both correlation to the market and overall return. The idea is that a real estate company holding a more diversified portfolio performs more like the market and therefore acts more like the market portfolio made up of value weighted stocks and securities within the financial market. A more diversified portfolio should pose less risk and perform better over the long term which many studies have shown to be the case in financial markets. This study will also explore the connection between underlying asset types using residential, retail and diversified assets compared to their traded financial markets to determine the role of portfolio bias.

An alternative form of investing that has grown steadily during turbulent economic conditions is the decision to invest in Hedge funds. Hedge funds differ from mutual funds by achieving absolute returns, meaning that the funds use complex investment strategies in order to achieve positive returns regardless of the performance of the stock market. The hedge fund market has grown significantly since the mid-1990s in the Nordic countries. Sweden has dominated the hedge fund scene in terms of pure numbers and is also in a dominant position in terms of hedge fund assets under management. Despite this growth, Swedish investors generally have a lack of knowledge about hedge funds as an alternative form of investment, which makes it difficult to assess its advantages and drawbacks. The purpose of the report is to study what hedge fund strategies on the Swedish market are able to generate absolute return over a given period. The purpose is also to compare the performance of the hedge fund strategies with the performance of the Swedish stock market over the given period. The strategies have been compared with the Swedish Stock Market Index SIXRX which reflects the performance of the Stockholm Stock Exchange, adjusted for dividends. The results show that all the hedge fund strategies had a lower volatility and generated a higher return relative to risk compared to the Stockholm Stock Exchange, over the given period. However, only three out of five hedge fund strategies managed to generate absolute return over the total period. / Ett investeringsalternativ som har vuxit sig starkare under turbulenta ekonomiska förhållanden är möjligheten att investera i hedgefonder. Hedgefonder skiljer sig från traditionellt förvaltade fonder genom möjligheten att utvinna s.k. absolut avkastning. Detta innebär att fonden använder komplexa investeringsstrategier i syfte att generera en positiv avkastning oberoende av aktiemarknadens utveckling. Hedgefonder har sedan mitten av 1990- talet vuxit sig allt starkare bland nordiska länder och Sverige är idag det land i Norden som dominerar avseende både antalet hedgefonder och förvaltat hedgefondkapital. Trots denna tillväxt har svenska investerare generellt sett låg kännedom om hedgefonder som placeringsalternativ, vilket gör det svårt att bedöma dess för- och nackdelar. Rapportens syfte är att undersöka vilka hedgefondstrategier på den svenska marknaden som klarar att generera absolut avkastning över en bestämd tidsperiod. Syftet är även att under samma period jämföra hedgefondstrategiernas utveckling med den svenska aktiemarknadens utveckling som helhet. Jämförelsen har gjorts med det svenska aktieindexet SIXRX som speglar Stockholmsbörsens utveckling, justerat för aktieutdelningar. Slutresultatet visar att samtliga hedgefondstrategier hade en lägre volatilitet samt genererade en högre avkastning i förhållande till risk jämfört med Stockholmsbörsen som helhet, under vald tidsperiod. Endast tre av fem strategier klarade dock att generera en absolut avkastning under tidsperiodens samtliga år.

Pensionssystemet är uppbyggt på så vis att det är menat att arbetsgivaren ska betala in en del kapital till framtida pension, samtidigt som man själv ska spara en del kapital. Den allmänna pensionen, som utbetalas från Pensionsmyndigheten, motsvarar vanligtvis ca 50 % av den genomsnittliga bruttolönen som man haft under sin arbetskarriär. Arbetar man på en arbetsplats som inte är kollektivansluten, är arbetsgivaren inte tvingad till att betala in några pengar till pensionen. Som anställd är det upp till en själv att undersöka huruvida arbetsgivaren gör detta. Idag är det ca 2,5 miljoner personer som arbetar som privatanställda arbetare och är kollektivavtalsanslutna. För dessa personer betalas tjänstepensionen in från arbetsgivaren till valcentralen Fora. Pengarna placeras sedan hos AMF som förvaltar dom. Man kan som anställd även göra ett aktivt val och välja att pengarna placeras hos någon annan förvaltare. Pengar som är intjänade från 1 januari 2006 har den privata anställde rätt till att fritt flytta mellan de olika förvaltarna. Trots denna valmöjlighet är det ca 64 % av de anställda som genom passivitet har sina pengar hos AMF. Orsakerna kan vara många till varför man inte gör ett aktivt val för placering av dessa pengar då det kan påverka hur mycket pension man i slutändan kommer att få. Faktorer som skiljer dessa förvaltare åt, och som kan göra skillnad på pensionen, är avkastningen, risktagandet och avgifterna. I denna studie görs en jämförelse mellan de olika förvaltarna där avkastningen och risken är de två faktorer som behandlas. Med hjälp av aritmetiskt medelvärde har genomsnittliga kvartalsavkastningen för försäkringarna beräknats. Sedan har standardavvikelsen, Sharpekvoten och Modigliani-Modigliani-måttet används för att beräkna risknivån och den riskjusterade avkastningen. Resultatet visar att Folksam Liv är den mest lönsamma försäkringen att investera i med hänsyn till den riskjusterade avkastningen. / The pension system is structured in such a way that the employer will pay a part of the uture retirement capital, while one ought to save some capital. Public pension, which comes rom Pensionsmyndigheten, represents only about 50% of average gross income as one had during their working careers. f you work in a workplace that is not connected to a work union, the employer is not obliged o pay any money for retirement. As an employee, it is up to you to examine whether the mployer does this or not. Today, approximately 2.5 million people are private sector employees and in a union. For hese people the employer pays a certain amount into the occupational pension which goes o the administrationcentral Fora. The money is then placed at AMF that manages them. The mployee can however make an active choice and choose the money to be invested with ny other manager. The private employee has the right to freely move money that is earned rom January 1, 2006, between the different managers. Despite this option, it is about 64% of the employees who through inaction have their money t AMF. The reasons can be many for not making an active choice for the placement of this oney but it could affect the amount of pension one will ultimately get. Factors  that  distinguish  these  managers,  and  that  can  make  a  difference  for  one's etirement, are return, risk taking, and charges. In this study, a comparison is made between he different managers where the return and the risk are the two factors considered. Arithmetic average has been used to calculate the average quarterly return for assurances. Standard deviation, Sharpe ratio and Modigliani-Modigliani measure are used to calculate he level of risk, and risk-adjusted returns. Then a comparison has been made between the different assurances. The result shows that Folksam Liv is the most profitable investment considering the risk- djusted return.

How banks set the mortgage interest rates and the sizes of the mortgage margins they obtain from making mortgage loans always attract attention from households, government authorities, politicians and market actors. This thesis studies the relationship between Swedish mortgage interest rates and mortgage lending institutions’ costs of obtaining funds, and how the gross margins of mortgage interest rates influence the banks stock returns. In general, banks’ mortgage margins are correlated with their funding costs, which are typically reflected in the yields of mortgage bonds (covered bonds), interbank rates (STIBOR) and the repo rate. How-ever the correlations change over time and sometimes the mortgage margins are relatively low and sometimes relatively high. Since mortgage loans play an important role in banks’ lending business, the related interest rate margins should influence banks’ profitability and therefore the performance of their stock. Everything else equal, higher margins should result in higher stock returns. I have collected and constructed a time-series data set based on Swedbank mortgage rates, Swedbank stock prices, yields on government bonds, yields on mortgage bonds, STIBOR interest rates, and repo rate. Both descriptive analysis and econometric models are applied to analyze the time-varying characteristics of the financial data. The thesis covers unconditional correlation (Pearson correlations), and conditional correlation through applying DCC-GARCH models. Besides, ARCH and GARCH models are employed to measure the ARCH and GARCH effects of the spread (premium) terms between interest rates. The results from descriptive analysis and econometric models present the tight relationships between the mortgage interest rates and the corresponding funding costs, and show the posi-tive but low correlations between mortgage margins and bank’s stock returns. The results also support the existence of time-vary volatilities (risk) of spread (premium) terms and quantify the growth of return for the certain increase in risk taking.

Return collectors are predominant organs for rubber-tyred subways to operatesince they ensure both the track circuit shunt and the traction current return. Po- sitioned at the interface between the track and the rolling stock, they are subjected to the disruptions linked to the train movement and the track irregularities. One of the most critical steps is the crossing of a switch nose.This study aims at determining the collector position during this crossing by means of a quasi-static analysis of the system. Two approaches are investigated. The first one brings into play a rigid contact and geometrical angles. It enables to model the crossing until the contact with the crossing nose. The diving capability of the collector is also taken into account. The second one is a standard  approach of the contact. A slight penetration is considered, which allows to grasp the contact with  the crossing nose. The second advantage  is to prepare the ground for a complete dynamical analysis. Both approaches are then implemented on Matlab to solve the equations. Finally the study of the switch crossing in nominal conditionsand a parametric analysis are achieved for a specified switch.