Forecasting Interest Rates from the Term Structure: Support Vector Machines Vs Neural Networks

Interest rate forecasting is one of the most challenging tasks in modern nance and economics. Several studies, examining dierent factors and statistical models, have been employed, however they often failed to beat a simple random walk. This study suggests the use of nonlinear, nonparametric mode...

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Main Author: Jacovides, Andreas
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/22097/
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author Jacovides, Andreas
author_facet Jacovides, Andreas
author_sort Jacovides, Andreas
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Interest rate forecasting is one of the most challenging tasks in modern nance and economics. Several studies, examining dierent factors and statistical models, have been employed, however they often failed to beat a simple random walk. This study suggests the use of nonlinear, nonparametric models, namely Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Articial Neural Networks (ANN). The methodology employed uses interest rate levels and spreads to predict the daily changes of UK six-month, one-year, three, ve and tenyear spot rates, six months forward. Results are promising, providing evidence in support of the term structures predictive content. Both methods are able to identify the overall trend of future interest rate movements and perform well in terms of Root Mean Squared Error and Mean Absolute Error outperforming, for all maturities, the simple random walk model. Greater accuracy is achieved in terms of predicting the correct direction and by considering longer-maturity rates. Comparison between the two methods shows that the accuracy and generalisation performance of SVMs is superior to that of ANNs in almost every aspect. ii
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spelling nottingham-220972018-02-02T04:51:21Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/22097/ Forecasting Interest Rates from the Term Structure: Support Vector Machines Vs Neural Networks Jacovides, Andreas Interest rate forecasting is one of the most challenging tasks in modern nance and economics. Several studies, examining dierent factors and statistical models, have been employed, however they often failed to beat a simple random walk. This study suggests the use of nonlinear, nonparametric models, namely Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Articial Neural Networks (ANN). The methodology employed uses interest rate levels and spreads to predict the daily changes of UK six-month, one-year, three, ve and tenyear spot rates, six months forward. Results are promising, providing evidence in support of the term structures predictive content. Both methods are able to identify the overall trend of future interest rate movements and perform well in terms of Root Mean Squared Error and Mean Absolute Error outperforming, for all maturities, the simple random walk model. Greater accuracy is achieved in terms of predicting the correct direction and by considering longer-maturity rates. Comparison between the two methods shows that the accuracy and generalisation performance of SVMs is superior to that of ANNs in almost every aspect. ii 2008 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/22097/1/Dissertation.pdf Jacovides, Andreas (2008) Forecasting Interest Rates from the Term Structure: Support Vector Machines Vs Neural Networks. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished) interest rates support vector machines neural networks term structure spot rates artificial intelligence
spellingShingle interest rates
support vector machines
neural networks
term structure
spot rates
artificial intelligence
Jacovides, Andreas
Forecasting Interest Rates from the Term Structure: Support Vector Machines Vs Neural Networks
title Forecasting Interest Rates from the Term Structure: Support Vector Machines Vs Neural Networks
title_full Forecasting Interest Rates from the Term Structure: Support Vector Machines Vs Neural Networks
title_fullStr Forecasting Interest Rates from the Term Structure: Support Vector Machines Vs Neural Networks
title_full_unstemmed Forecasting Interest Rates from the Term Structure: Support Vector Machines Vs Neural Networks
title_short Forecasting Interest Rates from the Term Structure: Support Vector Machines Vs Neural Networks
title_sort forecasting interest rates from the term structure: support vector machines vs neural networks
topic interest rates
support vector machines
neural networks
term structure
spot rates
artificial intelligence
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/22097/