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Many studies have shown that the correlation of stock portfolio returns is higher during market downturns, while very few of them offer an explanation for the causes of such an asymmetry. This article examines potential fundamental causes for the phenomenon. We find that such an asymmetry is caused by the following sources during market downturns: increasing common fundamental risk, higher correlation of individual fundamental risk and more sensitive loadings of these risk factors. We also find that these fundamental factors can only partially explain the asymmetric correlation. Possible mechanisms for these sources to drive the asymmetry are also discussed in the article.
