Factor stochastic volatility with time varying loadings and Markov switching regimes

We generalize the factor stochastic volatility (FSV) model of Pitt and Shephard [ 1999. Time varying covariances: a factor stochastic volatility approach (with discussion). In: Bemardo, J.M., Berger, J.O., Dawid, A.P., Smith, A.F.M. (Eds.), Bayesian Statistics, vol. 6, Oxford University Press, London, pp. 547-570.] and Aguilar and West [2000. Bayesian dynamic factor models and variance matrix discounting for portfolio allocation. J. Business Econom. Statist. 18, 338-357.] in two important directions. First, we make the FSV model more flexible and able to capture more general time-varying variance-covariance structures by letting the matrix of factor loadings to be time dependent. Secondly, we entertain FSV models with jumps in the common factors volatilities through So, Lam and Li's [1998. A stochastic volatility model with Markov switching. J. Business Econom. Statist. 16, 244-253.] Markov switching stochastic volatility model. Novel Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms are derived for both classes of models. We apply our methodology to two illustrative situations: daily exchange rate returns [Aguilar, O., West, M., 2000. Bayesian dynamic factor models and variance matrix discounting for portfolio allocation. J. Business Econom. Statist. 18, 338-357.] and Latin American stock returns [Lopes, H.F., Migon, H.S., 2002. Comovements and contagion in emergent markets: stock indexes volatilities. In: Gatsonis, C., Kass, R.E., Carriquiry, A.L., Gelman, A., Verdinelli, I., Pauler, D., Higdon, D. (Eds.), Case Studies in Bayesian Statistics, vol. 6, pp. 287-302]. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.