ARMA-GARCH models applied to exchange-traded funds

In this paper, time-varying volatility of some of the leading exchange-traded funds are studied. The ARMA mean equation with GARCH errors is used to model the series correlations and the conditional heteroscadesticity in the asset returns. The conditional distributions of the standardized residuals are assumed to be skew-generalized error distribution. The high kurtosis and fat tail of the returns, were captured in all the data by fitting an ARMA-GARCH model with the conditional distribution of, skew-generalized error distribution. Furthermore, the sample cross-correlations of these significant exchange-traded funds and the corresponding financial indices they mimic were computed. The empirical conclusion was that, the exchange-traded funds have statistical behavior similar to that of the corresponding financial indices that they mimic. Keywords: Exchange-Traded Funds, GARCH, Generalized Error Distributio