Have capital market anomalies attenuated in the recent era of high liquidity and trading activity?

We examine whether the recent regime of increased liquidity and trading activity is associated with attenuation of prominent equity return anomalies due to increased arbitrage. We find that the majority of the anomalies have attenuated and the average returns from a portfolio strategy based on prominent anomalies have approximately halved after decimalization. We provide evidence that hedge fund assets under management, short interest and aggregate share turnover have led to the decline in anomaly-based trading strategy profits in recent years. Overall, our work indicates that policies to stimulate liquidity and ameliorate trading costs improve capital market efficiency.     

Does acquirer cash level predict post-acquisition returns?

This paper investigates whether an acquirer’s pre-announcement cash level can predict post-acquisition returns. Harford (1999, Journal of Finance, 54, 1969–1997) shows that some cash-rich acquirers have lower announcement period returns than other acquirers, suggesting the market partially anticipates poor future performance. This paper shows that the acquirer’s cash level is also strongly and negatively predictive of post-acquisition returns, indicating that the announcement response is incomplete. Post-acquisition return on net operating assets (RNOA) is significantly decreasing in acquirer cash, suggesting that the market responds to subsequent poor operating performance as it is reported. Overall, these results are consistent with the market’s inattention to a less prominent accounting signal (acquirer cash) but attentiveness to a more prominent accounting signal (RNOA), as proposed by Hirshleifer and Teoh (2003, Journal of Accounting Economics, 36, 337–386).

The diversity of high-frequency traders

The regulatory debate concerning high-frequency trading (HFT) emphasizes the importance of distinguishing different HFT strategies and their influence on market quality. Using data from NASDAQ-OMX Stockholm, we compare market-making HFTs to opportunistic HFTs. We find that market makers constitute the lion's share of HFT trading volume (63–72%) and limit order traffic (81–86%). Furthermore, market makers have higher order-to-trade ratios and lower latency than opportunistic HFTs. In a natural experiment based on tick size changes, we find that the activity of market-making HFTs mitigates intraday price volatility.     

The relation between implied and realised volatility in the Danish option and equity markets

We show that the conclusions to be drawn concerning the informational efficiency of illiquid options markets depend critically on whether one carefully recognises and appropriately deals with the econometrics of the errors‐in‐variables problem. This paper examines the information content of options on the Danish KFX share index. We consider the relation between the volatility implied in an option's price and the subsequently realised index return volatility. Since these options are traded infrequently and in low volumes, the errors‐in‐variables problem is potentially large. We address the problem directly using instrumental variables techniques. We find that when measurement errors are controlled for, call option prices even in this very illiquid market contain information about future realised volatility over and above the information contained in historical volatility.     

Is technical analysis profitable on a stock market which has characteristics that suggest it may be inefficient?

This paper considers the returns to technical analysis on the New Zealand stock market. The small nature, short-selling constraints, lack of analyst coverage, and loose insider trading regulation suggest that the New Zealand equity market may be less efficient than overseas markets. This raises the possibility that technical analysis is still profitable in New Zealand. Using a bootstrapping technique with common null models for stock returns and 12 popular technical trading rules, we find that the returns to technical analysis in New Zealand follow a similar pattern to those in large offshore markets. Technical analysis is no longer profitable.     

Unusual operating cash flows and stock returns

The current financial reporting of cash flows from operations does not present individual sources of these cash flows, making it difficult for investors to assess a firm’s future performance. I hand-collect individual cash flows from unusual operations and examine their characteristics for predicting future cash flows. The results show that the unusual individual cash flow items contain a significant incremental predictive ability for future cash flows. Additional return tests show that stock prices fail to fully reflect their predictive value, suggesting that the current reporting practice may mislead investor perceptions of a firm’s cash generating ability and investors could benefit from a more explicit presentation of cash flows from operations.     

股市与债市波动溢出效应的机理研究——基于金融资源配置效率的视角

股市和债市波动溢出效应是金融市场波动的基本特征,研究其机理能够更清晰认识两个市场的价格传导机制和交互波动关系。针对目前研究缺乏系统性等问题,本文从资金、价格及风险等角度研究股市与债市的关联性,分析两个市场存在波动溢出的理论基础;用行为金融学解释波动溢出的产生机理;最后,阐明波动溢出效应与金融资源配置效率的关系。研究发现,它是引导社会资金在资本市场中实现二次配置、提高金融资源配置效率的重要途径。     

引入国债期货合约能否发挥现货市场稳定效应?——基于中国金融周期的研究视角

我国国债期货市场能否发挥稳定现货市场功能,金融周期风险是否会改变国债期货市场对现货市场波动的影响,是投资者实施风险管理和监管部门构建市场稳定机制的重要依据。本文通过信息传递机制和交易者行为两个维度探析国债期货市场发挥稳定功能的微观机理,分析金融周期风险对衍生工具稳定功能的影响,解析引入国债期货合约能否缓解金融周期波动对国债市场冲击,同时关注我国国债期货交易机制改进与现券波动关系。研究发现:(1)我国国债期货市场已实现抑制现货市场波动的功能,金融周期风险会引发现货价格波动,国债期货市场能够降低金融周期的波动冲击;(2)改善现货市场深度和套保交易是国债期货市场发挥稳定功能的微观路径,国债期货市场增进国债预期交易量流动性、减弱非预期交易量干扰,金融周期低波动区间套保交易稳定作用受到抑制;(3)国债期货投机交易和波动溢出效应助长现货市场波动,正负期现基差对国债波动影响具有非对称特征。     

基于不同分布假设下波动模型估计效果比较——以上海股票市场为例

本文基于不同分布假设,即正态分布、Student-t分布以及EGB2分布,使用2005年1月4日至2011年6月30日上证综指日收益率数据对GARCH模型和GJR GARCH模型估计效果进行实证比较。实证结果显示：（1）基于非对称EGB2分布的GJR GARCH模型更适合中国证券市场;（2）中国股票市场存在波动不对称性,且好消息引发的波动大于坏消息引发的波动,这可能与中国股票市场特有的市场结构和交易制度有关;（3）波动的不对称特性可能部分来自于对分布偏度特性考虑的欠缺,验证了合理的分布假设在波动行为分析过程中的重要性。     

Market conditions,risk, and real estate portfolio returns: Some empirical evidence

This research examined the return behavior of a portfolio of American and New York Stock Exchange real estate firms. A dummy variable procedure was used to test for excess return and/or change in risk behavior across market conditions. The findings were as follows. First, no excess return was found for any model specification. Second, no changes in beta were found using the benchmark approach. The beta shifted when an up market was defined as a nonrecessionary period; the beta behaved procyclically. However, the subperiod tests indicated that effect was transitory and period specific.     

Stock market volatility: friend or foe?

Although a good deal of research effort has been allocated to understanding the time-series volatility of stock returns – as both market (or systematic) volatility and idiosyncratic (or non-systematic) volatility – the relationship of such volatility with cross-sectional volatility or dispersion of outcomes is sparse. Nevertheless, the quest to understand one must involve the quest to understand the other. In this paper, we investigate the dispersion of returns in relation to inter-temporal volatility, as well as the dynamic of dispersion of returns in generating a portfolio’s return outcome. We find that the level of such dispersion is highly significant for portfolio performance and the notion of risk.     

Noise trading and prime and score premiums

This paper documents that a common element drives the time-series variation of the premium pricing of Primes and Scores. I argue that this common element is noise trading. The noise trading model of Delong, Shleifer, Summers and Waldmann (1990) predicts that returns on assets that are predominantly traded by noise traders will be correlated, since the misperceptions of noise traders are cross-sectionally correlated. Consistent with the noise trading hypothesis, changes in the average premium of Primes and Scores, which are predominantly traded by individual investors, are correlated with both changes in average discounts of closed-end funds and small firms returns. These empirical facts provide additional evidence that noise traders can affect security prices.     

Striking oil: Another puzzle?

Changes in oil prices predict stock market returns worldwide. We find significant predictability in both developed and emerging markets. These results cannot be explained by time-varying risk premia as oil price changes also significantly predict negative excess returns. Investors seem to underreact to information in the price of oil. A rise in oil prices drastically lowers future stock returns. Consistent with the hypothesis of a delayed reaction by investors, the relation between monthly stock returns and lagged monthly oil price changes strengthens once we introduce lags of several trading days between monthly stock returns and lagged monthly oil price changes.     

Volatility and market structure

This study examines volatility within three related intra-day series – transaction returns, quote midpoint returns, and limit order book midpoint returns – for a set of NYSE-listed stocks. We document statistically significant GARCH effects both overall and surrounding earnings announcements in all three series for the majority of stocks in the sample. We then compare the extent of volatility clustering among the series. In addition, the relation between volatility and market structure is examined via a set of cross-sectional regressions, and relations among the series over time are studied in a vector autoregressive framework.     

测量中国的金融不确定性——基于大数据的方法

本文基于 Jurado et al.(2015)提出的大数据分析方法,采用280个月度经济金融变量构造了2002-2017的中国金融不确定性指数,并从股票市场波动和金融机构系统性风险两个方面对中国的金融不确定性指数进行了实证分析。本文发现,在控制了滞后波动率后,金融不确定性指数仍然对股票市场的波动率有显著的预测作用;同时,金融不确定性的增加会显著提升金融机构的系统性风险,尤其是规模较大的金融机构。实证结果表明,金融不确定性是金融市场波动的一个重要来源。