A note on information seasonality and the disappearance of the weekend effect in the UK stock market

The weekend effect in UK stock prices has disappeared in the 1990s. Beneath the surface however there remain systematic day-of-the-week effects only visible when returns are partitioned by the direction of the market. A systematic pattern of market-wide news arrivals into the UK stock market is discovered and found to provide an explanation for these day-of-the-week effects.     

European day-of-the-week effects,beta asymmetries and international herding*

European equity markets with the most robust day-of-the-week effects in mean returns also exhibit day-of-the-week effects in risk. Betas measured relative to a world index are higher on Monday than on other days of the week, especially when returns on the world market are negative. After adjustments for beta asymmetries and for weekend vs weekday holding period horizons, day-of-the-week effects in residual risk and risk-adjusted mean returns weaken substantially compared to such effects measured with constant betas. These findings are consistent with the recent work of King and Wadhwani (1990), Froot et al. (1992) and Lakonishok and Maberly (1990).     

A New Look at the Monday Effect

It is well documented that expected stock returns vary with the day-of-the-week (the Monday or weekend effect). In this article we show that the well-known Monday effect occurs primarily in the last two weeks (fourth and fifth weeks) of the month. In addition, the mean Monday return of the first three weeks of the month is not significantly different from zero. This result holds for most of the subperiods during the 1962–1993 sampling period and for various stock return indexes. The monthly effect reported by Ariel (1987) and Lakonishok and Smidt (1988) cannot fully explain this phenomenon.     

THE NONPARALLEL WEEKEND EFFECT IN THE STOCK AND BOND MARKETS

Explanations for the day-of-the-week effect are either market-specific conventions (timing delays in settlement and clearing, dividend payout arrangements) or cross-market events (bad news delayed until the weekend). Although a market-specific rational is confined to one market, cross-market events affect at least two markets. In this research we investigate the weekend effect in the stock and Treasury markets. Our findings suggest the weekend effect is nonparallel across financial markets. Thus, the weekend effect is more likely due to unique features of the individual markets than to events affecting both stock and Treasury markets simultaneously.     

Day-of-the-week and intraday effects in stock returns

This study examines day-of-the-week effects using hourly values of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We find that over the 1963–1983 period the weekend effect has sifted from characterizing active trading on Monday to characterizing the non-trading weekend. Over the early part of our sample period negative returns characterize each hour of trading on Monday, while the return from Friday close to Monday open is positive. In the most recent subperiod, Monday average hourly returns after noon are all positive and the weekend effect is due to negative average returns from Friday close to Monday open.     

Presidential administrations and the day-of-the-week effect in stock returns

This study examines the presence of a day-of-the-week effect over different presidential administrations. The results indicate that the day-of-the-week effect prevails during the Democratic and Republican administrations. However, the pattern of the day-of-the-week effect differs between the two presidential administrations. Specifically, the negative returns on Monday are more pronounced during the Republican than during the Democratic administrations. Therefore, explanations for the day-of-the-week effect should take into account the changing pattern of the day-of-the-week effect across presidential administrations.     

Seasonal and Day-of-the-Week Effects in Four Emerging Stock Markets

The “January effect” and the “weekend effect” have proven to be persistent anomalies in U.S. equity markets. The objective of this paper is to examine seasonal and daily patterns in equity returns of four emerging markets: Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. These markets are gaining importance with the globalization of business; therefore, it is necessary to examine the efficiency and functioning of these capital markets. Our analysis uses daily data for the 12 years from September 1, 1976, to June 30, 1988. The results support the existence of a seasonal pattern in these markets. Returns in the month of January are higher than any other month for all markets examined except the Philippines. A robust day-of-the-week effect is also found. These markets exhibit a weekend effect of their own in the form of low Monday returns. In addition, there exists a strong “Tuesday effect,” which may be related to the + 13 hour time difference between New York and these emerging markets.     

THE WEEKEND EFFECT AND CORPORATE DIVIDEND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Numerous studies document a day-of-the-week effect in stock returns. Although a common explanation for this phenomenon concerns a potential daily pattern in the release of corporate information, existing studies provide conflicting evidence. To aid in resolving this issue, possible seasonalities in a sample of 138,824 dividend announcements are investigated over twenty-six years across 3,484 firms. Tests provide no support for the information hypothesis and suggest that the anomalous pattern of returns is driven by some factor unrelated to information arrivals.     

Weekend Effect, 'Reverse' Weekend Effect, and Investor Trading Activities

Abstract:   In this study, we document evidence of a 'reverse' weekend effect – whereby Monday returns are significantly positive and they are higher than the returns on other days of the week – over an extended period of eleven years (from 1988 to 1998). We also find that the 'traditional' weekend effect and the 'reverse' effect are related to firm size in that the 'traditional' weekend effect tends to be associated with small firms while the 'reverse' weekend effect tends to be associated with large firms. In addition, we find that during the period in which the 'reverse' weekend effect is observed, Monday returns for large firms tend to follow previous Friday returns when previous Friday returns are positive , but they do not follow the previous Friday returns when Friday returns are negative . Furthermore, we find that during the period in which the 'reverse' weekend effect is observed, Monday returns are positively related to the volume of medium‐size and block transactions, but negatively related to the volume of odd‐lot transactions.     

Day-of-the-Week Effects in the Long-Run Performance of Initial Public Offerings

This study examines the influence of day-of-the-week patterns in security returns on long-run IPO underperformance. Comparisons are made between the IPOs in Ritter's [20] database, and a constructed set of matching firms based on SIC code and size, using NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ securities. It is found that virtually all of the IPO underperformance occurs on Mondays and Tuesdays and that the degree of underperformance significantly differs from other days. Thus, a common explanation may exist for the general day-of-the-week pattern in security returns and IPO long-run underperformance.     

The decline of calendar seasonality in the Australian stock exchange, 1958–2005

This paper examines calendar effects in Australian daily stock returns from 6 January 1958 to 30 December 2005. Three calendar effects—day-of-the-week, turn-of-the-month and month-of-the-year—are examined using parametric tests and a regression-based approach. The results indicate that the Australian market is characterised by seasonality of all three forms, with Tuesday, September and the second trading day of the month the most significant. However, there is also evidence of parameter instability and structural breaks in these relationships, with day-of-the-week effects becoming less important in the post-1987 crash period.     

Risk-Adjusted Day-of-the-Week, Day-of-the-Month, and Month-of-the-Year Effects on Stock Indexes and Stock Index Futures

This study uses risk-adjusted returns based on the Sharpe Performance Measure to evaluate the presence of three anomalies in two stock index futures, the futures of a smaller firm synthetic index, and their respective underlying spot indexes. The three anomalies are the day-of-the-week, the month-of-the-year, and the day-of-the-month effects. Using the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test, we find more evidence of day-of-the-week and day-of-the-month effects in futures index price behavior than in their underlying spot indexes. The January effect is found to be more pronounced for spot indexes than for stock index futures contracts. It is also more pronounced in the smaller firm synthetic index. Our results tend to disagree with efficient market proponents.     

TIME-VARYING FACTORS AND CROSS-AUTOCORRELATIONS IN SHORT-HORIZON STOCK RETURNS

In this paper I show that the lead-lag pattern between large and small market value portfolio returns is consistent with differential variations in their expected return components. I find that the larger predictability of returns on the portfolio of small stocks may be due to a higher exposure of these firms to persistent (time-varying) latent factors. Additional evidence suggests that the asymmetric predictability cannot be fully explained by lagged price adjustments to common factor shocks: (i) lagged returns on large stocks do not have a strong causal effect on returns on small stocks; (ii) trading volume is positively related to own- and cross-autocorrelations in weekly portfolio returns; and (iii) significant cross-autocorrelation exists between current returns on large stocks and lagged returns on small stocks when trading volume is high.     

Imperfect Information and Cross-Autocorrelation among Stock Prices

I develop a model to explain why stock returns are positively cross-autocorrelated. When market makers observe noisy signals about the value of their stocks but cannot instantaneously condition prices on the signals of other stocks, which contain marketwide information, the pricing error of one stock is correlated with the other signals. As market makers adjust prices after observing true values or previous price changes of other stocks, stock returns become positively cross-autocorrelated. If the signal quality differs among stocks, the cross-autocorrelation pattern is asymmetric. I show that both own- and cross-autocorrelations are higher when market movements are larger.     

The day-of-the-week effect in foreign exchange markets: multi-currency evidence

To investigate to what extent transaction mechanism matters, we examine the daily returns of 29 foreign exchange rates in the New York market. This paper finds that the day-of-the-week effect existed in the 1980s for some, not all, currencies. The fact that the day-of-the-week effect existed for only some currencies suggests that the US transaction mechanism alone cannot explain the anomaly. Furthermore, this paper finds that the day-of-the-week effect disappears for almost all currencies in the 1990s. This latter result is consistent with previous studies on anomalies in the stock markets.     

International day-of-the-week effects: An empirical examination of iShares

Ample evidence suggests that day-of-the-week patterns exist in US and foreign equity returns. We extend the evidence on the day-of-the-week effect in equity returns by examining the return patterns of iShares for 17 countries and Standard and Poor's Depository Receipts (SPDRs) to establish whether previously observed predictabilities in equity returns are reflected in iShares' returns. We utilize a split sample to examine return patterns and develop trading rules using the initial subsample. We then test those trading rules out of sample. Empirical results reveal that iShares exhibit day-of-the-week return patterns that can be exploited by informed traders.     

高管持股、择时披露与市场反应

基于2001至2008年间A股公司业绩预告的样本,本文研究了高管持股对择时信息披露策略的影响,以及市场对择时披露信息的反应。研究发现,A股公司在业绩预告时存在择时披露的行为:好消息①更倾向于在交易日披露,坏消息更倾向于在休息日披露。高管持股比例会显著影响择时披露策略:高管持股比例越高的公司,进行择时披露的可能性也越高。从市场反应角度看,休息日披露的坏消息与交易日披露的坏消息没有显著差异,休息日披露的好消息反而会产生更加显著的正面市场反应。本文的研究意味着,高管持股比例会显著提高上市公司进行择时信息披露的可能性,但是市场在一定程度上能够识别择时披露策略,本文的研究结果支持了"信息消化"假说。     

Anomalías en la autocorrelación de rendimientos y la importancia de los periodos de no transacción en mercados latinoamericanos

This paper aims to determine the evidence of returns autocorrelation for the main Latin American stock markets, and the influence of the day of the week effect on this phenomenon. Also, we analyze the importance of non-trading periods and their incidence on stock markets returns. We determine a high autocorrelation in most of the stock markets analyzed, both in local and global currency and the day-of-the-week effect on only some of the stock markets. Evidence of correlation between trading periods returns and those of non-trading periods is also found.     

The Inter-Temporal Behavior of Informed and Uninformed Traders

The purpose of this study is to investigate the inter-temporal trading behavior of informed and uninformed investors. We estimate a variation of the market microstructure model developed in Easley, Keifer, O'Hara, and Paperman (1996) and document the day-of-the-week pattern in informed and uninformed trading, as well as the probability of an information event and the probability of bad news. Using bootstrapped distributions, we show that the probability of trading against informed investors follows a U-shape pattern from Monday to Friday. Cross-sectional regression results suggest that inter-temporal patterns between informed and uninformed traders can generate observed patterns in liquidity provision costs.     

The Weekend Effect, 'Reverse' Weekend Effect, and Firm Size

In this paper, we find a 'reverse%rsquo; weekend effect — whereby returns for Monday are positive and significantly greater than returns for the preceding Friday — in recent data for major stock indexes. We also find that, while a weak weekend effect exists in portfolios of smaller firms, the effect begins to diminish and weak 'reverse' weekend effect begins to appear in medium size firms. The 'reverse' weekend effect becomes strong and statistically significant in portfolios of large firms. The detection of a 'reverse' weekend effect in portfolios of large firms is a new finding in the literature.