Algorithmic Monitoring: Measuring Market Stress with Machine Learning

Abstract: I construct a Market Stress Probability Index (MSPI) that estimates the probability of high stress in the U.S. equity market one month ahead using information from the cross-section of individual stocks. Using CRSP daily data, each month is summarized by a set of interpretable cross-sectional fragility signals and mapped into a forward-looking stress probability via an L1-regularized logistic regression in a real-time expanding-window design. Out of sample, MSPI tracks major stress episodes and improves discrimination and accuracy relative to a parsimonious benchmark based on lagged market return and realized volatility, delivering calibrated stress probabilities on an economically meaningful scale. Further, I illustrate how MSPI can be used as a probability-based measurement object in financial econometrics. The resulting index provides a transparent and easily updated measure of near-term equity-market stress risk.