Breaks and persistency: macroeconomic causes of stock market volatility

In the paper we study the relationship between macroeconomic and stock market volatility, using S&P500 data for the period 1970-2001. We find evidence of a twofold linkage between stock market and macroeconomic volatility. Firstly, the break process in the volatility of stock returns is associated with the break process in the volatility of the Federal funds rate and M1 growth. Secondly, two common long memory factors, mainly associated with output and inflation volatility, drive the break-free volatility series. While stock market volatility also affects macroeconomic volatility, the causality direction is stronger from macroeconomic to stock market volatility.