Hedges and safe havens: An examination of stocks, bonds, gold, oil and exchange rates

In this paper we investigate the return relations between major asset classes using data from both the US and the UK. Our first objective is to examine time variation in conditional correlations to determine when these variables act as a hedge against each other. Secondly, we provide evidence on whether the dependencies between the asset classes differ during extreme price movements by using quantile regressions. This analysis provides evidence on whether these asset classes can be considered as safe havens for each other. A noteworthy finding of our study is that gold can be regarded as a safe haven against exchange rates in both countries, highlighting its monetary asset role. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.