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No / It is a commonly held view that gold protects investors’ wealth in the event of negative economic conditions. In this study, we test whether other metals offer similar or better investment opportunities in periods of market turmoil. Using a sample of 13 sovereign bonds, we show that other precious metals, palladium in particular, offer investors greater compensation for their bond market losses than gold. We also find that industrial metals, especially copper, tend to outperform gold and other precious metals as hedging vehicles and safe haven assets against losses in sovereign bonds. However, the outcome of the hedge and safe haven properties is not always consistent across the different bonds. Finally, our analysis suggests that copper is the best performing metal in the period immediately after negative bond price shocks.

I denna studie undersöks guld som safe haven-tillgång och om den erbjuder tillflykt mot volatilitet, vilket är studiens huvudsakliga syfte. För att åstadkomma detta används data från VIX- och GVZ-indexet samt priset på guld under perioden 1994–2018. Guldets egenskaper testas mot safe haven-teorin via ett kvantitativt angreppsätt där korrelation, avkastning och standardavvikelse är ämne för undersökning i utvalda perioder. Guld visar sig bevara sitt värde under oroligheter – vilket syns genom att den genomsnittliga avkastningen för guld är högre när VIX befinner sig på höga nivåer. Dock misslyckas tillgången att förbli lågvolatil då guldets volatilitet stiger i takt med den förväntade volatiliteten på aktiemarknaden. Den förväntade volatiliteten i guldpriset, uttryckt genom GVZ, korrelerar dessutom med den förväntade volatiliteten på aktiemarknaden mätt av VIX-indexet. Däremot upptäcks knappt någon korrelation mellan guldets pris och förändringar i VIX-indexets värde. / The purpose of this study was to analyse whether gold fulfils the criteria for being a safe haven asset in certain conditions. Through the use of data pooled from CBOE’s VIX, GVZ and the spot price of gold, we employ a quantitative approach to analyse correlation, rate of return and standard deviation during times of market volatility. The chosen period for this analysis is the time between 1994 and 2018. Gold proved its ability to retain value during such conditions, which is evidenced by higher average returns when VIX has been at high levels. This strengthens its role as a safe haven asset. However, gold failed to keep a low level of volatility in periods of rising implied volatility on the stock market, as expressed by the VIX index. Moreover, the implied volatility of gold, expressed through the GVZ index, has shown a strong correlation with the VIX, indicating that gold is not a safe haven. Finally, the gold spot price was shown to have little to no correlation with changes in VIX.

Denna studie undersöker fem olika tillgångar under tre olika kriser för att se vilka tillgångar som kan definieras som en safe haven på den svenska aktiemarknaden. Tillgångarna som undersöks är guld, 10-årig statsobligation, japansk yen, schweizisk franc och amerikansk dollar. Kriserna som de undersöks under är IT-bubblan, finanskrisen och covid-19 pandemin. En safe haven tillgång definieras som en tillgång som inte är korrelerad eller negativt korrelerad med andra tillgångar eller portföljer under finansiella kriser, i denna studie jämförs respektive tillgång med den svenska aktiemarknaden. Den metod som används är kvantitativ med sekundärdata i form av den dagliga förändringen för aktiemarknaden och respektive tillgång. Dessa analyseras med hjälp av en regressionsmodell som fångar de dagar då marknaden fallit som mest där sambanden mellan tillgången och marknaden mäts för att få ett resultat. Bland de tillgångar som har undersökts finner studien att alla tillgångar förutom schweizisk franc har varit någon form av safe haven under en viss period för någon av de olika kriserna. / This study examines five different assets during three different crises to see which assets can be defined as a safe haven in the Swedish stock market. The assets examined are gold, 10-year government bonds, Japanese yen, Swiss francs and US-dollars. The crises in which they are investigated are the IT-bubble, the financial crisis and the covid-19 pandemic. A safe haven asset is defined as an asset that is not correlated or negatively correlated with other assets or portfolios during financial crises, in this study each asset is compared with the Swedish stock market. The method used is quantitative with secondary data in the form of the daily change for the stock market and the respective asset. These are analyzed using a regression model that captures the days when the market has fallen the most, where the relationship between the assets and the market are examined to get a result. Among the assets that have been examined, the study finds that all assets except the Swiss franc have been some form of safe haven during a certain period for any of the various crises.

Investing in commodities may have important benefits for investors but only in the last few decades have they started to think more about this possibility. Furthermore, large investors are more inclined to change their own personal view. Therefore, understanding the benefits that commodities could give to an investment portfolio might alleviate investors’ concerns. Several previous studies, as Belousova and Dorfleitner (2012) suggest, that the commodities with higher benefits are precious metals and gold, in particular. The purpose of our work is to understand which possible benefits are for equity investors and if they are common for certain commodities with different physical characteristics. The first part of our empirical work focuses on the main descriptive statistics of the return distribution (mean, variance, volatility, skewness, kurtosis and correlation) for 8 stock indices and 7 commodity futures. The main goal of this is to understand the differences among the commodities and between the commodities and the stock indices. In the second part of the empirical work, we test the safe-haven and the hedge properties of these commodities on a weekly basis for all of them with stock indices, and we do the same on a daily and monthly basis for only commodities which are negatively correlated on average with the stock indices. In the last part of our work, we combine these 7 commodities, following the principles of Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM), in order to create a well-balanced and well-diversified commodity index. Additionally, we create some mixed portfolios using this index and a different stock index every time. After that we look at the volatilities and the returns of these mixed portfolios with different weight combinations. Our main goals in this section are to understand the characteristics of the commodity index in comparison with stock indices and then, finding which weight combinations give the mixed portfolios the optimal risk-return trade off. Understanding which are efficient weights, can lead to conclusions about the weight that commodities should have in a portfolio according to the risk tolerance of the investors.  The research is done considering three time frequencies: daily, weekly and monthly; in line with the ones used by Baur and McDermott (2010). The sample size differs among these three different time basis. In fact, daily data started in January 2007 and the other two time frequencies data began with January 1997. All the time samples ended in March 2016. The results of the first part show that gold is the only commodity with a volatility similar to the stock indices (it also has a higher average return) and that on the daily, weekly and monthly basis. Whereas, the other commodities are much riskier than stock indices since they have higher volatility for all the three time-frequencies analyzed.  The results of the second part suggest that only gold is both a safe-haven and hedging commodity in line with the methodology used by Baur and McDermott (2010), but only for DAX 30 on a weekly basis. Furthermore, our results also show that natural gas is strong hedge in some cases such as natural gas for STI (Singapore) on a monthly basis or gold for Nikkei 225 on daily, weekly and monthly basis. Other commodities are neither safe-haven nor hedge in any case, except for silver which is a safe-haven commodity for DAX 30 and Sensex which at its worst, 1% and 5%, declines in the market respectively. The results of the last part of our work show that all the minimum variance mixed portfolios (the ones with the weights give the lowest risk) - made on a weekly basis - reduce the portfolio volatility and make the portfolio returns higher than the stock indices returns in 5 cases out of 8. Additionally, the results show how investors, who add a well-balanced and well-diversified commodity index to their portfolios, are able to observe several weight combinations and choose the one which suits their risk tolerance. Moreover, our results show that the optimal-weight combinations for commodity weights are lower than 0,5 only for FTSE 100 and S&P 500 (both values are 0,49) and higher than 0,62 but lower than 0,7 for DAX 30, Nikkei 225, Hang Seng, Sensex, SSEC. Furthermore, the optimal weight for STI is 0,54.

This paper analyzes the return connectedness between the biotechnology sector and other financial assets for 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2018, using an empirical approach from both time- and frequency-domain. The results reveal that the connectedness between the biotechnology sector and other financial assets are decreasing with time, entailing high diversification opportunities in the long-run. Our results also suggest that the spillover effect from the biotechnology sector is higher than the spillover effect to the biotechnology sector, proposing that the sector affects other financial assets to a greater extent than they affect the biotechnology sector. Concurrently, we found that the net directional connectedness is negative for the sector, which means that it does not transmit shocks to others since it is not subject to significant return or volatility shocks. This implies that the systematic risk connected to the biotechnology sector is lower than previous studies argue for. Thus, our main finding is that investments in the sector has safe haven properties, indicating that they are independent towards other sectors. By investing in the biotechnology sector, investors contribute to society and supports the R&D, leading to development of vital drugs. In light of this, we argue that investments in the sector are socially beneficial. Building on these insights, investments in the biotechnology sector are of importance when investing in a prosperous world.

O presente trabalho abordará uma das mais polêmicas abordagens da segunda metade do século XX sobre Direito Internacional, a Escola de New Haven, a qual, segundo o discurso tradicional dos internacionalistas, teria maculado a distinção entre direito e política, tornando aquele instrumento desta ou, em outra versão, teria resumido o direito à política. Apesar de as críticas à proposta formarem um coro consistente, este estudo visará a demonstrar que, para fugir dos pré-conceitos, a Escola precisa ser lida na sua integralidade, e não apenas pelos julgamentos negativos, pois somente no todo se encontra a explicação para as suas idiossincrasias. Para cumprir essa tarefa, a Escola será estudada sob três óticas: a Escola de New Haven por seus contextos, a Escola de New Haven por ela mesma e a Escola de New Haven por seus defensores e críticos. / The present study will discuss one of the most controversial approaches of the second half of the twentieth century, the New Haven School, which, according to the traditional discourse of internationalists, would have tainted the distinction between law and politics, making the former instrument of the latter, or, in another version, it would have summed up law into politics. Despite the strong criticisms against the School, this study aims to demonstrate that, to escape from the preconceptions, it would be necessary to read the School in its entirely, and not from the perspective of the critics, because this would be the best way to understand its idiosyncrasies. To fulfill this task, it will be studied the New Haven School from three points of view: New Haven School by its contexts, New Haven School by itself, and New Haven School by its advocates and critics.

During stormy weathers ships searched for safe havens to stay until the storm had subsided. In much similarity to these ships, investors on the financial markets search for safe assets when the markets start to shake. What could be considered a safe asset seems to be a never-ending discussion but many points out gold as one. However, no further observations of gold as a safe haven on the Swedish financial market has been made. The purpose of this research is to examine if gold could act as a safe haven in Sweden. The data used in this research is daily returns from OMXS30 and the 10-year Swedish government bond, where all returns also has been denominated in U.S. dollar. Further, statistical model has been used. The result show that gold potentially could act as a ‘safe haven’ for denominated stock returns but not for bond returns. Further, the result show that gold could act as a hedge for stock and bond return (non-denominated). The study concludes that gold does not act as a safe haven for stocks or bonds in Sweden. However, gold show weak safe haven attributes for denominated stock return.

This diploma thesis analyzes several aspects of taxation when entering a foreign market. The first chapter explains the difference between nominal and effective tax rates and tax burden regulation by enterprises during the current debt crisis. The second chapter deals with double taxation agreements and methods that eliminate double taxation. The third chapter describes the rules of transfer pricing and advance pricing agreements. The last chapter focuses on tax incentives and risks of taxation, especially tax avoidance, tax evasion and the negative attitude of developed countries against tax havens.

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