Integrated simulation and optimization models for tracking international fixed income indices

Portfolio managers in the international fixed income markets must address jointly the interest rate risk in each market and the exchange rate volatility across markets. This paper develops integrated simulation and optimization models that address these issues in a common framework. Monte Carlo simulation procedures generate jointly scenarios of interest and exchange rates and, thereby, scenarios of holding period returns of the available securities. The portfolio manager's risk tolerance is incorporated either through a utility function or a (modified) mean absolute deviation function. The optimization models prescribe asset allocation weights among the different markets and also resolve bond-picking decisions. Therefore several interrelated decisions are cast in a common framework. Two models – an expected utility maximization and a mean absolute deviation minimization – are implemented and tested empirically in tracking a composite index of the international bond markets. Backtesting over the period January 1997 to July 1998 illustrates the efficacy of the optimization models in dealing with uncertainty and tracking effectively the volatile index. Of particular interest is the empirical demonstration that the integrative models generate portfolios that dominate the portfolios obtained using classical disintegrated approaches.