Foreign dependence of individual stock prices: The role of aggregate product market developments

In this paper, we analyze the role of aggregate variables in the transmission from international stock price developments to individual domestic stock prices in a small open stock market. In particular, a theoretical and econometric model is used to determine whether international aggregate product market developments explain observed differences in foreign dependence among individual Belgian stocks. The results suggest that, except for the stocks of some internationally oriented companies, expected international production is not the most important explanatory variable and that an estimation model of aggregate fundamentals explains only part of individual stock price adjustments.