Effects of the Fed’s enhanced swap line with the ECB on CIP deviations

Abstract

In this paper we study the effects of the enhancement of the Fed’s swap line with the ECB during the coronavirus epidemic on dollar cross-currency basis swap spreads against the euro, which had widened during the coronavirus crisis, reflecting greater deviations from covered interest parity (CIP). We find that the enhanced swap line contributed to making the three-month dollar cross-currency basis swap spreads against the euro less negative, i.e. narrowing the CIP deviations.