Optimal Control for Utility Portfolio Selection with Liability

In this paper we use stochastic optimal control theory to investigate a dynamic portfolio selection problem with liability process, in which the liability process is assumed to be a geometric Brownian motion and completely correlated with stock prices. We apply dynamic programming principle to obtain Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations for the value function and systematically study the optimal investment strategies for power utility, exponential utility and logarithm utility. Firstly, the explicit expressions of the optimal portfolios for power utility and exponential utility are obtained by applying variable change technique to solve corresponding HJB equations. Secondly, we apply Legendre transform and dual approach to derive the optimal portfolio for logarithm utility. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the results obtained and analyze the effects of the market parameters on the optimal portfolios.     

Portfolio optimization in a regime-switching market with derivatives

We consider the optimal asset allocation problem in a continuous-time regime-switching market. The problem is to maximize the expected utility of the terminal wealth of a portfolio that contains an option, an underlying stock and a risk-free bond. The difficulty that arises in our setting is finding a way to represent the return of the option by the returns of the stock and the risk-free bond in an incomplete regime-switching market. To overcome this difficulty, we introduce a functional operator to generate a sequence of value functions, and then show that the optimal value function is the limit of this sequence. The explicit form of each function in the sequence can be obtained by solving an auxiliary portfolio optimization problem in a single-regime market. And then the original optimal value function can be approximated by taking the limit. Additionally, we can also show that the optimal value function is a solution to a dynamic programming equation, which leads to the explicit forms for the optimal value function and the optimal portfolio process. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, as long as the current state of the Markov chain is given, it is still optimal for an investor in a multiple-regime market to simply allocate his/her wealth in the same way as in a single-regime market.     

Optimal portfolio strategies benchmarking the stock market

The paper investigates the impact of adding a shortfall risk constraint to the problem of a portfolio manager who wishes to maximize his utility from the portfolios terminal wealth. Since portfolio managers are often evaluated relative to benchmarks which depend on the stock market we capture risk management considerations by allowing a prespecified risk of falling short such a benchmark. This risk is measured by the expected loss in utility. Using the Black–Scholes model of a complete financial market and applying martingale methods, explicit analytic expressions for the optimal terminal wealth and the optimal portfolio strategies are given. Numerical examples illustrate the analytic results.     

A multi-objective genetic algorithm for cardinality constrained fuzzy portfolio selection

This paper presents a new procedure that extends genetic algorithms from their traditional domain of optimization to fuzzy ranking strategy for selecting efficient portfolios of restricted cardinality. The uncertainty of the returns on a given portfolio is modeled using fuzzy quantities and a downside risk function is used to describe the investor's aversion to risk. The fitness functions are based both on the value and the ambiguity of the trapezoidal fuzzy number which represents the uncertainty on the return. The soft-computing approach allows us to consider uncertainty and vagueness in databases and also to incorporate subjective characteristics into the portfolio selection problem. We use a data set from the Spanish stock market to illustrate the performance of our approach to the portfolio selection problem.     

Integrated portfolio management with options

In this paper we examine the problem of managing portfolios consisting of both, stocks and options. For the simultaneous optimization of stock and option positions we base our analysis on the generally accepted mean–variance framework. First, we analyze the effects of options on the mean–variance efficient frontier if they are considered as separate investment alternatives. Due to the resulting asymmetric portfolio return distribution mean–variance analysis will be not sufficient to identify optimal optioned portfolios. Additional investor preferences which are expressed in terms of shortfall constraints allow a more detailed portfolio specification. Under a mean–variance and shortfall preference structure we then derive optioned portfolios with a maximum expected return. To circumvent the technical optimization problems arising from stochastic constraints we use an approximation of the return distribution and develop economically meaningful conditions under which the complex optimization problem can be transformed into a linear problem being comparably easy to solve. Empirical results based on both, empirical market data and Monte Carlo simulations, illustrate the portfolio optimization procedure with options.     

Stochastic Nonstationary Optimization for Finding Universal Portfolios

We apply ideas from stochastic optimization for defining universal portfolios. Universal portfolios are that class of portfolios which are constructed directly from the available observations of the stocks behavior without any assumptions about their statistical properties. Cover [7] has shown that one can construct such portfolio using only observations of the past stock prices which generates the same asymptotic wealth growth as the best constant rebalanced portfolio which is constructed with the full knowledge of the future stock market behavior.In this paper we construct universal portfolios using a different set of ideas drawn from nonstationary stochastic optimization. Our portfolios yield the same asymptotic growth of wealth as the best constant rebalanced portfolio constructed with the perfect knowledge of the future and they are less demanding computationally compared to previously known universal portfolios. We also present computational evidence using New York Stock Exchange data which shows, among other things, superior performance of portfolios which explicitly take into account possible nonstationary market behavior.     

Use of DEA cross-efficiency evaluation in portfolio selection: An application to Korean stock market

We propose a way of using DEA cross-efficiency evaluation in portfolio selection. While cross efficiency is an approach developed for peer evaluation, we improve its use in portfolio selection. In addition to (average) cross-efficiency scores, we suggest to examine the variations of cross-efficiencies, and to incorporate two statistics of cross-efficiencies into the mean-variance formulation of portfolio selection. Two benefits are attained by our proposed approach. One is selection of portfolios well-diversified in terms of their performance on multiple evaluation criteria, and the other is alleviation of the so-called “ganging together” phenomenon of DEA cross-efficiency evaluation in portfolio selection. We apply the proposed approach to stock portfolio selection in the Korean stock market, and demonstrate that the proposed approach can be a promising tool for stock portfolio selection by showing that the selected portfolio yields higher risk-adjusted returns than other benchmark portfolios for a 9-year sample period from 2002 to 2011.     

具有信息的最优投资组合

证券市场的将来是未知的.投资者只能依据所掌握的信息作出相应的投资策略.事实上,信息对投资组合的影响是各种各样的.考虑多个时期有信息作用的投资组合策略问题,建立了有信息影响的最优投资组合的凸规划模型,得到了模型的最优解及其极限,并给出了一些投资组合受信息作用的情形.     

基于风险网络结构的资产分配策略研究

股票市场是一个高风险市场,如何在频繁发生的极端波动环境下进行有效的资产分配是当前热点问题。本文首次应用VaR模型构建股市风险网络,并基于风险网络模型进行最优投资组合成分选择,分析不同市场波动行情下最优资产分配权重和股票中心性的时变关系,融合风险网络时变中心性和个股表现提出新的动态资产分配策略(φ投资策略)。结果表明:在股市上涨和震荡期,股票中心性和最优投资组合权重呈正相关关系;股市下跌期,股票中心性和最优投资组合权重呈负相关关系;当φ>0.05时,投资者的合理投资区域向高中心性节点移动,反之。φ投资策略的绩效表现证明了风险网络结构能提高投资组合选择过程。此研究对于优化资产配置、提高投资收益、多元化分散投资风险具有重要意义。     

Multiperiod Mean-Variance Portfolio Optimization via Market Cloning

The problem of finding the mean variance optimal portfolio in a multiperiod model can not be solved directly by means of dynamic programming. In order to find a solution we therefore first introduce independent market clones having the same distributional properties as the original market, and we replace the portfolio mean and variance by their empirical counterparts. We then use dynamic programming to derive portfolios maximizing a weighted sum of the empirical mean and variance. By letting the number of market clones converge to infinity we are able to solve the original mean variance problem.     

基于高斯核支持向量机和遗传算法的优化组合研究

选用2008~2015共8年数据,首先基于高斯核的支持向量机在沪市A股上构建周期性的投资组合,并通过误差图和评价指标与BP神经网络、广义回归神经网络进行比较,结果表明了支持向量机在股票预测上更具有优势.再将改进遗传算法运用于上证股票市场构建最优投资组合,以上证指数作为基准进行比较,得出混合遗传算法优化组合的模型相比单一模型更为有效.     

An exact solution to a robust portfolio choice problem with multiple risk measures under ambiguous distribution

This paper proposes a unified framework to solve distributionally robust mean-risk optimization problem that simultaneously uses variance, value-at-risk (VaR) and conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) as a triple-risk measure. It provides investors with more flexibility to find portfolios in the sense that it allows investors to optimize a return-risk profile in the presence of estimation error. We derive a closed-form expression for the optimal portfolio strategy to the robust mean-multiple risk portfolio selection model under distribution and mean return ambiguity (RMP). Specially, the robust mean-variance, robust maximum return, robust minimum VaR and robust minimum CVaR efficient portfolios are all special instances of RMP portfolios. We analytically and numerically show that the resulting portfolio weight converges to the minimum variance portfolio when the level of ambiguity aversion is in a high value. Using numerical experiment with simulated data, we demonstrate that our robust portfolios under ambiguity are more stable over time than the non-robust portfolios.     

Portfolio Optimization in a Semi-Markov Modulated Market

We address a portfolio optimization problem in a semi-Markov modulated market. We study both the terminal expected utility optimization on finite time horizon and the risk-sensitive portfolio optimization on finite and infinite time horizon. We obtain optimal portfolios in relevant cases. A numerical procedure is also developed to compute the optimal expected terminal utility for finite horizon problem. This work was supported in part by a DST project: SR/S4/MS: 379/06; also supported in part by a grant from UGC via DSA-SAP Phase IV, and in part by a CSIR Fellowship.     

Portfolio selection in stochastic markets with HARA utility functions

In this paper, we consider the optimal portfolio selection problem where the investor maximizes the expected utility of the terminal wealth. The utility function belongs to the HARA family which includes exponential, logarithmic, and power utility functions. The main feature of the model is that returns of the risky assets and the utility function all depend on an external process that represents the stochastic market. The states of the market describe the prevailing economic, financial, social, political and other conditions that affect the deterministic and probabilistic parameters of the model. We suppose that the random changes in the market states are depicted by a Markov chain. Dynamic programming is used to obtain an explicit characterization of the optimal policy. In particular, it is shown that optimal portfolios satisfy the separation property and the composition of the risky portfolio does not depend on the wealth of the investor. We also provide an explicit construction of the optimal wealth process and use it to determine various quantities of interest. The return-risk frontiers of the terminal wealth are shown to have linear forms. Special cases are discussed together with numerical illustrations.     

Portfolio optimization with a neural network implementation of the coherent market hypothesis

Capital market research seems to be widely governed by traditional static linear models like arbitrage pricing theory and capital asset pricing model, though there is some evidence that better results can be achieved using nonlinear approaches. In this study we described a portfolio optimization model based on artificial neural networks embedded in the framework of a nonlinear dynamic capital market model, the coherent market hypothesis. The main advantage of this theory is that it drops the premise of rational investors and therefore relaxes the precondition of approximately normally distributed stock returns. Neural networks are used to estimate the return distributions in order to forecast the fundamental situation and the level of group behavior of the specific stocks. On the basis of these forecasts the relative stock performance is predicted and used to manage stock portfolios, In a simulation with out-of-sample data from 1991–1994 a portfolio constructed from the eight best ranked stocks achieved an annual return rate about 25% higher than that of the market portfolio and one built from the eight worst ranked stocks attained a return about 25% lower than the market portfolio's return rate. A hedging strategy based on the two aforementioned portfolios leads to a consistently positive annual return of about 25% regardless of the movements of the market portfolio with only 41% of the risk of a buy and hold strategy in the market portfolio.     

Robust ranking and portfolio optimization

The portfolio optimization problem has attracted researchers from many disciplines to resolve the issue of poor out-of-sample performance due to estimation errors in the expected returns. A practical method for portfolio construction is to use assets’ ordering information, expressed in the form of preferences over the stocks, instead of the exact expected returns. Due to the fact that the ranking itself is often described with uncertainty, we introduce a generic robust ranking model and apply it to portfolio optimization. In this problem, there are n objects whose ranking is in a discrete uncertainty set. We want to find a weight vector that maximizes some generic objective function for the worst realization of the ranking. This robust ranking problem is a mixed integer minimax problem and is very difficult to solve in general. To solve this robust ranking problem, we apply the constraint generation method, where constraints are efficiently generated by solving a network flow problem. For empirical tests, we use post-earnings-announcement drifts to obtain ranking uncertainty sets for the stocks in the DJIA index. We demonstrate that our robust portfolios produce smaller risk compared to their non-robust counterparts.     

Optimal portfolio execution under cointegrated vector autoregressive systems

Abstract

In this paper, an optimal portfolio execution problem under price model which exhibits cointegration behaviour is proposed. The proposed problem is formulated as a quadratic programming problem. With different statistical procedures and parameter estimation methods, employed on real market financial data, the four portfolios are constructed with which, computational study is performed. It is shown that the trading strategies constructed out of portfolios with cointegrated price dynamics show significant reduction in execution cost.     

HARA frontiers of optimal portfolios in stochastic markets

In this paper, we consider the optimal portfolio selection problem in continuous-time settings where the investor maximizes the expected utility of the terminal wealth in a stochastic market. The utility function has the structure of the HARA family and the market states change according to a Markov process. The states of the market describe the prevailing economic, financial, social and other conditions that affect the deterministic and probabilistic parameters of the model. This includes the distributions of the random asset returns as well as the utility function. We analyzed Black–Scholes type continuous-time models where the market parameters are driven by Markov processes. The Markov process that affects the state of the market is independent of the underlying Brownian motion that drives the stock prices. The problem of maximizing the expected utility of the terminal wealth is investigated and solved by stochastic optimal control methods for exponential, logarithmic and power utility functions. We found explicit solutions for optimal policy and the associated value functions. We also constructed the optimal wealth process explicitly and discussed some of its properties. In particular, it is shown that the optimal policy provides linear frontiers.     

A network-based data mining approach to portfolio selection via weighted clique relaxations

We introduce a new network-based data mining approach to selecting diversified portfolios by modeling the stock market as a network and utilizing combinatorial optimization techniques to find maximum-weight s-plexes in the obtained networks. The considered approach is based on the weighted market graph model, which is used for identifying clusters of stocks according to a correlation-based criterion. The proposed techniques provide a new framework for selecting profitable diversified portfolios, which is verified by computational experiments on historical data over the past decade. In addition, the proposed approach can be used as a complementary tool for narrowing down a set of “candidate” stocks for a diversified portfolio, which can potentially be analyzed using other known portfolio selection techniques.     

Optimal investment of DC pension plan under short-selling constraints and portfolio insurance

In this paper we investigate an optimal investment problem under short-selling and portfolio insurance constraints faced by a defined contribution pension fund manager who is loss averse. The financial market consists of a cash bond, an indexed bond and a stock. The manager aims to maximize the expected S-shaped utility of the terminal wealth exceeding a minimum guarantee. We apply the dual control method to solve the problem and derive the representations of the optimal wealth process and trading strategies in terms of the dual controlled process and the dual value function. We also perform some numerical tests and show how the S-shaped utility, the short-selling constraints and the portfolio insurance impact the optimal terminal wealth.