Reward and Risk in the Italian Fixed Income Market

In this paper, we discuss and examine the portfolio optimization problems in the Italian fixed income market considering two main sources of risk: prices risk and market risk. To achieve this aim, we propose a two-step optimization problem for two types of bonds. In particular, we manage the price risk implementing the classical immunization method and then, using the ex-post results from the optimal immunization problem, we are able to deal with market risk maximizing the portfolio wealth in a reward-risk framework. Adopting this approach, the paper then explores empirical applications on the Italian fixed income market using data for the period 2005-2015. Empirical results shows that the two-step optimization build efficient portfolios that minimize the price risk and the market risk. This ex-post analysis indicates the usefulness of the proposed methodology, maximizing the investor’s wealth and understanding the dynamics of the bonds.