International Order Flows: Explaining Equity and Exchange Rate Returns
Journal of International Money and Finance, Vol. 29(2) (2010), 358-386
with Peter Dunne and Michael Moore

Abstract

Macroeconomic models of equity and exchange rate returns perform poorly. The proportion of daily returns that these models explain is essentially zero. Instead of relying on macroeconomic determinants, we model equity price and exchange rate behavior based on a concept from microstructure – order flow. The international order flows are derived from belief changes of different investor groups in a two country setting. We obtain a structural relationship between equity returns, exchange rate returns and their relationship to home and foreign market order flow. To test the model we construct daily aggregate order flow data from all equity trades in the U.S. and France from 1999 to 2003. Almost 60 percent of the daily returns in the S&P100 index is explained jointly by exchange rate returns and aggregate order flows.