An extended CIR process with stochastic discontinuities

Abstract

We study an extension of the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) process that incorporates jumps at deterministic dates, referred to as stochastic discontinuities. Our main motivation stems from short-rate modelling in the context of overnight rates, which often exhibit jumps at predetermined dates corresponding to central bank meetings. We provide a formal definition of a CIR process with stochastic discontinuities, where the jump sizes depend on the pre-jump state, thereby allowing for both upwarrd and downward movements as well as potential autocorrelation among jumps. Under mild assumptions, we establish existence of such a process and identify sufficient and necessary conditions under which the process inherits the affine property of its continuous counterpart. We illustrate our results with practical examples that generate both upward and downward jumps while preserving the affine property and non-negativity. In particular, we show that a stochastically discontinuous CIR process can be constructed by applying a determinisitic cadlag time-change of a classical CIR process. Finally, we further enrich the affine framework by characterizing conditions that ensure infinite divisibility of the extended CIR process.