Wavelet-Based Methods for High-Frequency Lead-Lag Analysis

We propose a novel framework to investigate lead-lag relationships between two financial assets. Our framework bridges a gap between continuous-time modeling based on Brownian motion and the existing wavelet methods for lead-lag analysis based on discrete-time models and enables us to analyze the multiscale structure of lead-lag effects. We also present a statistical methodology for the scale-by-scale analysis of lead-lag effects in the proposed framework and develop an asymptotic theory applicable to a situation including stochastic volatilities and irregular sampling. Finally, we report several numerical experiments to demonstrate how our framework works in practice.