Publications
Publications
- January 2011 (Revised June 2011)
- HBS Case Collection
Fixed Income Arbitrage in a Financial Crisis (C): TED Spread and Swap Spread in November 2008
Abstract
Investment manager Albert Mills confronts an apparent arbitrage opportunity during the global financial crisis of 2008 when he notices an unusually low-- and briefly negative-- thirty-year U.S. dollar fixed-floating swap spread. Mills must decide if there is an opportunity, how to structure a trade to exploit it, and how much of his fund's capital to allocate. Case exposition includes descriptions of fixed-floating swaps, important interest rates and spreads (LIBOR, TED spread, swap spread), and financing arrangements, particularly repurchase agreements, that support relative-value strategies. Attention also is paid to bond math calculations that support the protagonist's analysis and decision. All quoted prices in the case are real and historical, and corresponding Bloomberg commands are provided for each as footnotes.
Keywords
Bonds; Financial Management; Investment Return; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; United States
Citation
Taliaferro, Ryan D., and Stephen Blyth. "Fixed Income Arbitrage in a Financial Crisis (C): TED Spread and Swap Spread in November 2008." Harvard Business School Supplement 211-051, January 2011. (Revised June 2011.)