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Global Equity Volatility Insights
Want a cheap call on EU equity? Monetise
correlation through EU bank dispersion
US
Extract alpha from summer SPX range as policy and positioning “collar” equities
With the Federal Reserve last week appearing more emboldened to normalize monetary
policy, risk asset bears have come out in force. While we agree that a changing Fed
reaction function is likely not supportive of substantial equity upside, we think the
“Yellen put” still exists, albeit with a lower strike. Hence, we see monetary policy as
providing a near-term “collar” (long put/short call) on a US equity market already prone
to getting trapped in record-tight trading ranges. Further impetus for a summer range-
trade should come from (i) fiscal policy, as gridlock caps equity upside but policy hope
floors the downside, and (ii) positioning, where the risk of continued “fragility events”
(potentially exacerbated by stretched quant fund/short vol positioning) meets cashed-up
investors still accustomed to buying dips. As a risk-limited range trade, we like buying
in-the-money down and out puts on the S&P. For example, an SPX Sep 2475 put that
knocks out at 2300 (6% OTM) indicatively costs 7Obps (spot ref 2451), a 60% discount
to the 2475 / 2300 put spread.
Europe
Long EU banks dispersion: Buy Dec17 call on a basket, sell worst-of call
We recommend positioning for greater dispersion in EU bank sector returns via buying a
Dec17 105% call on an equally-weighted basket of Santander, BNP, ING, Intesa and
Deutsche Bank, part-financed by selling a worst-of call on the same basket for 1.8%
(net) indic., as: 1) improving macro/earnings, sensitivity to rates and regulatory
headwinds are likely to lead to greater differentiation within banks, 2) the entry point is
attractive given historically low implied vol (13 8y+ percentile) and high implied
correlation (81% bid vs latest 6M realised correl of 66%), 3) historical risk-reward at
current pricing is attractive (avg. P&L of +8.4% when positive vs -1.8% when negative),
and 4) the trade can be considered as a cheap call on EU equities as it has a similar
payoff profile but with greater benefit relative to its cost.
Asia
Buy depressed China vs. US risks through corridor variance spreads
As global central banks have taken on more hawkish tones, the uncertainty surrounding
policy tightening will be more positive for EM volatility than for DM volatility.
Additionally, our strategists have a more bearish outlook for the Chinese banking sector
(which makes up a majority of the HSCEI index) amid rapidly rising leverage, complex
shadow banking, and excessive home price inflation. Since we believe the global
synchronized monetary tightening will impact HSCEI volatility more than SPX volatility,
we recommend owning HSCEI-SPX 70/110% corridor variance at 5 vol points, a 3 vol
point discount to a vanilla variance spread. The entry point is attractive as the HSCEI-
SPX 18-month variance swap spread has fallen back to the lower-end of its 5-year
trading range, the trade has a positive carry, and it benefits during China risk-off events.
>> Employed by a non-US affiliate of MLPF&S and is not registered/qualified as a research analyst under
the FINRA rules.
Refer to "Other Important Disclosures" for information on certain BofA Merrill Lynch entities that take
responsibility for this report in particular jurisdictions.
BofA Merrill Lynch does and seeks to do business with issuers covered in its research reports. As a
result, investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the
objectivity of this report. Investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making
their investment decision.
Refer to important disclosures on page 28 to 29. Analyst Certification on page 27. 11756528
Timestamp: 20 June 2017 01:18AM EDT
Bankof America
Merrill Lynch
20)
une 2017
Equity Derivatives
Global
BofA Analytics
= DATA DRIVEN =
Global Equity Derivatives Rsch
MLPI
F&S
Anshul Gupta >>
Equi
MLI
Nitin Saksena
Equi
MLP
Willi
Equi
‘y-Linked Analys
UK)
y-Linked Analys
F&S
am Chan, CFA >>
‘y-Linked Analys
Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)
Abhi
Equi
MLI
Benj
Equi
MLP
nandan Deb >>
‘y-Linked Analys
UK)
amin Bowler
‘y-Linked Analys
F&S
benjamin.bowler@baml.com
Jason Galazidis >>
Equi
MLI
Clov
Equi
MLI
Chin
Equi
MLP
Michael Youngworth
Equi
MLP
Nikolay Angeloff
Equi
MLP
y-Linked Analys
UK)
is Couasnon >>
y-Linked Analys
UK)
tan Kotecha
y-Linked Analys
F&S
y-Linked Analys
F&S
y-Linked Analys
F&S
See Team Page for List of Analysts
Table 1: 3M volatility (weekly changes)
Implied Realized
S&P500 9.8 (-0.2) 7.1 (-0.2)
ESTX50 34 (0.3) 1.5 (0.2)
FTSE 10.0 (-0.4) 9.7 (0.2)
DAX 2.6 (0.3) 0.7 (0.5)
NKY 13.8 (-0.2) 12.3 (-0.2)
HSI 24 (0.1) 0.1 (0.2)
KOSPI 2.2 (0.3) 0.5 (0.1)
EEM US 5.6 (0.5) 11.8 (-1.1)
TOP40 6.9 (1.2) 1.1 (0.3)
RDX 25.9 (0.9) 20.6 (-1.1)
IBOV 22,9 (61.7) 25.5 (-0.7)
ISE30 20.2 (0.4) 3.5 (0.1)
Source: BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research
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