International stock market linkages: A factor analysis approach

This paper provides empirical evidence on the factor structure of stock market return and volatility from a representative set of international stock exchanges. As to stock market return linkages, the results show a mild segmentation of international stock exchanges into four international areas: Europe, Asia, North and South America. Empirical findings concerning stock market volatility, estimated using GARCH methodology, also lead to a four factors solution. However, the loadings are not similar, revealing that risk is spread more globally around the world.