On the inference about the spectral distribution of high-dimensional covariance matrix based on high-frequency noisy observations

In practice, observations are often contaminated by noise, making the resulting sample covariance matrix a signal-plus-noise sample covariance matrix. Aiming to make inferences about the spectral distribution of the population covariance matrix under such a situation, we establish an asymptotic relationship that describes how the limiting spectral distribution of (signal) sample covariance matrices depends on that of signal-plus-noise-type sample covariance matrices. As an application, we consider inferences about the spectral distribution of integrated covolatility (ICV) matrices of high-dimensional diffusion processes based on high-frequency data with microstructure noise. The (slightly modified) pre-averaging estimator is a signal-plus-noise sample covariance matrix, and the aforementioned result, together with a (generalized) connection between the spectral distribution of signal sample covariance matrices and that of the population covariance matrix, enables us to propose a two-step procedure to consistently estimate the spectral distribution of ICV for a class of diffusion processes. An alternative approach is further proposed, which possesses several desirable properties: it is more robust, it eliminates the effects of microstructure noise, and the asymptotic relationship that enables consistent estimation of the spectral distribution of ICV is the standard Marcenko–Pastur equation. The performance of the two approaches is examined via simulation studies under both synchronous and asynchronous observation settings.