The impact of Russia’s Geopolitical Risk on stock markets’ high-moment risk

Abstract

We investigated the time and frequency connectedness between Russia’s geopolitical risk (R-GPR) and the high-order moments (volatility, skewness, and kurtosis) of equity markets in eight countries: U.S., Belgium, France, Germany, U.K., Italy, Switzerland, and Spain. Our findings showed that R-GPR and realized volatility co-move in the short- and medium-term frequency bands during wartime, except in the U.S. and U.K. markets. Concerning realized skewness, significant co-movements were observed between R-GPR and Belgium and Germany during the short- and medium-frequency bands, implying that higher skewness (crash risk) was associated with higher R-GPR. Contrastingly, the realized kurtosis and R-GPR were connected at a long-term frequency. Finally, R-GPR negatively led to realized kurtosis in the U.S. market, implying the U.S. market’s hedging potential for fat-tail risk. Our results provide essential insights into the investment and risk-management practices of market participants with different investment horizons.