Can online search data improve the forecast accuracy of pork price in China?

Online search data provide us with a new perspective for quantifying public concern about animal diseases, which can be regarded as a major external shock to price fluctuations. We propose a modeling framework for pork price forecasting that incorporates online search data with support vector regression model. This novel framework involves three main steps: that is, formulation of the animal diseases composite indexes (ADCIs) based on online search data; forecast with the original ADCIs; and forecast improvement with the decomposed ADCIs. Considering that there are some noises within the online search data, four decomposition techniques are introduced: that is, wavelet decomposition, empirical mode decomposition, ensemble empirical mode decomposition, and singular spectrum analysis. The experimental study confirms the superiority of the proposed framework, which improves both the level and directional prediction accuracy. With the SSA method, the noise within the online search data can be removed and the performance of the optimal model is further enhanced. Owing to the long-term effect of diseases outbreak on price volatility, these improvements are more prominent in the mid- and long-term forecast horizons.     

Shift-contagion in energy markets and global crisis

This paper presents an analysis of shift-contagion in energy markets, testing whether linkages between returns in energy markets increase during crisis periods. The research presented herein demonstrates how common movement between energy markets increases due to (i) shift-contagion across energy markets, reflected by structural transmission of shocks across markets and (ii) larger common shocks operating through standard cross-market interdependences. A regime-switching model was developed to detect shift-contagion across energy markets. In the approach adopted herein, the occurrence of shift-contagion is endogenously estimated rather than being exogenously assigned. The results show that shift-contagion has been a major feature of energy markets over the last decade. Evidence is presented which demonstrates that the linkages between energy markets do not appear to be stable. These results are remarkably accurate for forecasting Brent and natural gas for horizons for up to 50 days. Conversely, for WTI (West Texas Intermediate oil) and coal, the model performs well only for forecasting very short horizons (up to 20 days). For all products, the model shows significant biases for long horizons.     

A comparison of conditional predictive ability of implied volatility and realized measures in forecasting volatility

In a conditional predictive ability test framework, we investigate whether market factors influence the relative conditional predictive ability of realized measures (RMs) and implied volatility (IV), which is able to examine the asynchronism in their forecasting accuracy, and further analyze their unconditional forecasting performance for volatility forecast. Our results show that the asynchronism can be detected significantly and is strongly related to certain market factors, and the comparison between RMs and IV on average forecast performance is more efficient than previous studies. Finally, we use the factors to extend the empirical similarity (ES) approach for combination of forecasts derived from RMs and IV.     

Forecasting stock volatility in the presence of extreme shocks: Short-term and long-term effects

This paper introduces a novel generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity–mixed data sampling–extreme shocks (GARCH-MIDAS-ES) model for stock volatility to examine whether the importance of extreme shocks changes in different time ranges. Based on different combinations of the short- and long-term effects caused by extreme events, we extend the standard GARCH-MIDAS model to characterize the different responses of the stock market for short- and long-term horizons, separately or in combination. The unique timespan of nearly 100 years of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) daily returns allows us to understand the stock market volatility under extreme shocks from a historical perspective. The in-sample empirical results clearly show that the DJIA stock volatility is best fitted to the GARCH-MIDAS-SLES model by including the short- and long-term impacts of extreme shocks for all forecasting horizons. The out-of-sample results and robustness tests emphasize the significance of decomposing the effect of extreme shocks into short- and long-term effects to improve the accuracy of the DJIA volatility forecasts.     

Neural network structure identification in inflation forecasting

Neural networks (NNs) are appropriate to use in time series analysis under conditions of unfulfilled assumptions, i.e., non‐normality and nonlinearity. The aim of this paper is to propose means of addressing identified shortcomings with the objective of identifying the NN structure for inflation forecasting. The research is based on a theoretical model that includes the characteristics of demand‐pull and cost‐push inflation; i.e., it uses the labor market, financial and external factors, and lagged inflation variables. It is conducted at the aggregate level of euro area countries from January 1999 to January 2017. Based on the estimated 90 feedforward NNs (FNNs) and 450 Jordan NNs (JNNs), which differ in variable parameters (number of iterations, learning rate, initial weight value intervals, number of hidden neurons, and weight value of the context unit), the mean square error (MSE), and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) are calculated for two periods: in‐the‐sample and out‐of‐sample. Ranking NNs simultaneously on both periods according to either MSE or AIC does not lead to the selection of the ‘best’ NN because the optimal NN in‐the‐sample, based on MSE and/or AIC criteria, often has high out‐of‐sample values of both indicators. To achieve the best compromise solution, i.e., to select an optimal NN, the preference ranking organization method for enrichment of evaluations (PROMETHEE) is used. Comparing the optimal FNN and JNN, i.e., FNN(4,5,1) and JNN(4,3,1), it is concluded that under approximately equal conditions, fewer hidden layer neurons are required in JNN than in FNN, confirming that JNN is parsimonious compared to FNN. Moreover, JNN has a better forecasting performance than FNN.     

及时性自适应高维经济基本面建模与汇率预测分析

在人民币国际化不断推进,人民币汇率双向波动加强的背景下,构建具有优良预测能力的汇率预测模型愈发重要.参数模型对汇率预测的能力不仅取决于模型设定是否正确,还取决于模型能够同时:一方面能否迅速探测模型参数的结构性变化以使用最佳信息估计模型参数,另一方面能否及时识别模型解释变量以使用最佳解释变量对汇率进行预测.本文构建了自适应变元算法.该算法不仅能实时检测模型参数的结构性变化,探测参数的最大化同质区间,同时还能对变量进行及时识别以选择最佳模型解释变量,提高模型的预测能力.在样本外向前3至24个月的汇率预测中,自适应变元算法能显著超越随机游走,马尔可夫机制转换模型,误差修正模型,实时最优窗算法,多元自适应可变窗算法与其他经济基本面模型包括:弹性货币模型,购买力平价模型,利率平价模型,泰勒规则模型,偏移泰勒规则模型.变量选择结果显示,自"811"汇改以后,经济基本面因素决定了人民币汇率走势.中国与其他发达经济体包括欧元区,英国与日本的经济基本面同样能够决定美元兑人民币汇率走向.另外,自"811"汇改之后,人民币汇率预期相比于"811"汇改之前更易受到外部冲击的影响,合理的人民币汇率预期监管依然需要依赖于实行有管理的浮动汇率制度,防止汇率风险.     

基于IOWHA算子的区间预测模型及应用

针对实际值序列和预测值序列均为区间数的组合预测问题,把区间数的左右端点作为两个独立的时序数列,通过引入诱导有序加权调和平均(IOWHA)算子,分别建立以区间数左右端点的倒数离差相关系数最大化为准则的IOWHA算子的变权系数最优组合预测模型,再通过引入偏好系数把多目标最优化模型转化为单目标最优化模型,并尝试给出各模型最优解的性质.最后利用数据进行分析,并和其他单项预测方法或组合预测方法相比较,从而证明该方法确实能够提高区间预测的精度.     

基于不同气候变化情景的东江流域水资源量预测研究

采用半分布式水文模型HSPF,结合1978-1998年东江流域实测气象数据和5个气候模式在3种RCP气候情景(RCP8.5,RCP4.5,RCP2.6)下基准期(1960-2000年)和未来时期(2020-2070年)降水、蒸发情景模拟结果,在对东江流域径流模拟检验基础上,对2020-2070年东江流域水资源量做了深入分析。结果表明,HSPF模型能很好模拟东江流域年、月径流以及洪水期径流变化,博罗站的NASH系数均超过0.81,PBIAS低于10%,RSR低于0.45;所选取气候模式能很好的反映研究流域气象数据在年内分布情况。对未来气候和东江流域水资源量模拟结果表明:1 2020-2070年不同气候变化情景下东江流域降水及蒸发量在RCP2.6和RCP4.5情景下均呈上升趋势,而在RCP8.5情景下,东江流域蒸发量则呈现下降趋势;2未来东江流域多年月均径流量呈增加趋势;3未来东江流域不同频率下的洪水和枯水流量均呈不同程度的增长。相对于基准期,未来时期的洪水天数呈增长趋势,洪水灾害有加剧态势。     

基于超快速星历的数值天气预报可行性研究

为实时获取高时空分辨率的大气水汽场,基于地基GPS遥感大气水汽原理,结合香港CORS网的实测数据进行处理,根据大气可降水量(PWV)解算过程中超快速星历预报部分的时间跨度不同,设计了3个方案,并比较了各方案中最终精密星历、超快速星历和探空资料解算得到的PWV序列。结果表明,利用超快速星历估计PWV与最终精密星历结果一致,其精度满足气象预报等实时业务的要求。     

季节性变动影响下的上海港集装箱吞吐量预测

港口吞吐量精准预测对于每一个港口的成功经营和有效决策都十分重要.季节性波动经常会影响港口吞吐量,为了更为准确地预测上海港口集装箱吞吐量,本文选取2007年至2012年上海港母港集装箱吞吐量的月度数据,并对于港口集装箱吞吐量的月度数据中出现的季节性波动进行了处理,采用季节时间序列模型对其进行预测.为了说明方法的有效性,以同样的数据,使用整自回归移动平均模型对上海港集装箱吞吐量进行预测.两种方法预测结果进行对比发现,利用季节时间序列模型对港口集装箱吞吐量季节性进行处理,能够提高港口集装箱吞吐量的预测精度.