Pricing American Interest Rate Options Under the Jump-Extended Constant-Elasticity-of-Variance Short Rate Models

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how to value American interest rate options under the jump extended constant-elasticity-of-variance (CEV) models. We consider both exponential jumps (see Duffie, Pan, and Singleton (2000)) and lognormal jumps (see Johannes (2004)) in the short rate process. We show how to superimpose recombining multinomial jump trees on the diffusion trees, creating mixed jump-diffusion trees for the CEV models of short rate extended with exponential and lognormal jumps. Our simulations for the special case of jump-extended Cox, Ingersoll, and Ross (CIR) square root model show a significant computational advantage over the Longstaff and Schwartz’s (2001) least-squares regression method (LSM) for pricing American options on zero-coupon bonds.