IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v89y2023ics105752192300248x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Which is more important in stock market forecasting: Attention or sentiment?

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Xiaotao
  • Li, Guoran
  • Li, Yishuo
  • Zou, Gaofeng
  • Wu, Ji George

Abstract

We examine the predictability of investors' attention and sentiment on four major stock indexes' returns in China between 2008 and 2018. We create investors' attention and sentiment variables by using the investors' posts from Guba, which is the largest stock forum in China. We find that both investor attention and sentiment can improve the stock return predictability with in-sample and out-of-sample periods. However, investor sentiment is more informative than investor attention in stock return prediction. These results remain significant by testing posts announced in trading and non-trading sessions. Our paper provides new empirical evidence for stock return forecasting in a data-rich environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Xiaotao & Li, Guoran & Li, Yishuo & Zou, Gaofeng & Wu, Ji George, 2023. "Which is more important in stock market forecasting: Attention or sentiment?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:89:y:2023:i:c:s105752192300248x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102732
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105752192300248X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102732?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ivo Welch & Amit Goyal, 2008. "A Comprehensive Look at The Empirical Performance of Equity Premium Prediction," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 1455-1508, July.
    2. Gao, Ya & Han, Xing & Li, Youwei & Xiong, Xiong, 2021. "Investor heterogeneity and momentum-based trading strategies in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Guofu Zhou, 2018. "Measuring Investor Sentiment," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 239-259, November.
    4. Sanjiv R. Das & Mike Y. Chen, 2007. "Yahoo! for Amazon: Sentiment Extraction from Small Talk on the Web," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(9), pages 1375-1388, September.
    5. Hao, Jing, 2023. "Retail investor attention and corporate innovation in the big data era," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Hirshleifer, David & Li, Jun & Yu, Jianfeng, 2015. "Asset pricing in production economies with extrapolative expectations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 87-106.
    7. Gao, Zhenyu & Ren, Haohan & Zhang, Bohui, 2020. "Googling Investor Sentiment around the World," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(2), pages 549-580, March.
    8. Romain Boulland & François Degeorge & Edith Ginglinger, 2017. "News Dissemination and Investor Attention," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(2), pages 761-791.
    9. Huina Mao & Scott Counts & Johan Bollen, 2011. "Predicting Financial Markets: Comparing Survey, News, Twitter and Search Engine Data," Papers 1112.1051, arXiv.org.
    10. Gregory W. Brown & Michael T. Cliff, 2005. "Investor Sentiment and Asset Valuation," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(2), pages 405-440, March.
    11. Zhang, Wei & Shen, Dehua & Zhang, Yongjie & Xiong, Xiong, 2013. "Open source information, investor attention, and asset pricing," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 613-619.
    12. Han, Xing & Li, Youwei, 2017. "Can investor sentiment be a momentum time-series predictor? Evidence from China," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 212-239.
    13. Zhi Da & Joseph Engelberg & Pengjie Gao, 2011. "In Search of Attention," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1461-1499, October.
    14. Mitchell, Mark L & Mulherin, J Harold, 1994. "The Impact of Public Information on the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(3), pages 923-950, July.
    15. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2007. "Investor Sentiment in the Stock Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 129-152, Spring.
    16. Laura L. Veldkamp, 2006. "Information Markets and the Comovement of Asset Prices," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(3), pages 823-845.
    17. Cedric Mbanga & Ali F. Darrat & Jung Chul Park, 2019. "Investor sentiment and aggregate stock returns: the role of investor attention," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 397-428, August.
    18. De Long, J Bradford & Andrei Shleifer & Lawrence H. Summers & Robert J. Waldmann, 1990. "Noise Trader Risk in Financial Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(4), pages 703-738, August.
    19. Diego García, 2013. "Sentiment during Recessions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 1267-1300, June.
    20. Daniel, Kent & Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2002. "Investor psychology in capital markets: evidence and policy implications," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 139-209, January.
    21. Meng, Xiangtong & Zhang, Wei & Li, Youwei & Cao, Xing & Feng, Xu, 2020. "Social media effect, investor recognition and the cross-section of stock returns," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    22. Clark, Todd E. & West, Kenneth D., 2007. "Approximately normal tests for equal predictive accuracy in nested models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 291-311, May.
    23. Vozlyublennaia, Nadia, 2014. "Investor attention, index performance, and return predictability," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 17-35.
    24. Qiao, Kenan & Dam, Lammertjan, 2020. "The overnight return puzzle and the “T+1” trading rule in Chinese stock markets," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    25. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2008. "All That Glitters: The Effect of Attention and News on the Buying Behavior of Individual and Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 785-818, April.
    26. Li, Jun & Yu, Jianfeng, 2012. "Investor attention, psychological anchors, and stock return predictability," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 401-419.
    27. John Y. Campbell & Samuel B. Thompson, 2008. "Predicting Excess Stock Returns Out of Sample: Can Anything Beat the Historical Average?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 1509-1531, July.
    28. Azi Ben-Rephael & Zhi Da & Ryan D. Israelsen, 2017. "It Depends on Where You Search: Institutional Investor Attention and Underreaction to News," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(9), pages 3009-3047.
    29. Gao, Ya & Han, Xing & Li, Youwei & Xiong, Xiong, 2019. "Overnight momentum, informational shocks, and late informed trading in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    30. Robin Greenwood & Andrei Shleifer, 2014. "Expectations of Returns and Expected Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(3), pages 714-746.
    31. Paul C. Tetlock, 2007. "Giving Content to Investor Sentiment: The Role of Media in the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1139-1168, June.
    32. Chau, Frankie & Deesomsak, Rataporn & Koutmos, Dimitrios, 2016. "Does investor sentiment really matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 221-232.
    33. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:3:p:1259-1294 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Stefano Dellavigna & Joshua M. Pollet, 2009. "Investor Inattention and Friday Earnings Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 709-749, April.
    35. Alessandro Carretta & Vincenzo Farina & Duccio Martelli & Franco Fiordelisi & Paola Schwizer, 2011. "The Impact of Corporate Governance Press News on Stock Market Returns," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 17(1), pages 100-119, January.
    36. David E. Rapach & Jack K. Strauss & Guofu Zhou, 2010. "Out-of-Sample Equity Premium Prediction: Combination Forecasts and Links to the Real Economy," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 821-862, February.
    37. He, Feng & Yan, Yulin & Hao, Jing & Wu, Ji (George), 2022. "Retail investor attention and corporate green innovation: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    38. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2011. "When Is a Liability Not a Liability? Textual Analysis, Dictionaries, and 10‐Ks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 35-65, February.
    39. Jing Hao & Feng He & Feng Ma & Tong Fu, 2023. "Trading around the clock: Revisit volatility spillover between crude oil and equity markets in different trading sessions," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 771-791, June.
    40. Alok Kumar & Charles M.C. Lee, 2006. "Retail Investor Sentiment and Return Comovements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(5), pages 2451-2486, October.
    41. Guo, Jiaqi & Li, Youwei & Zheng, Min, 2019. "Bottom-up sentiment and return predictability of the market portfolio," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 57-60.
    42. Zhang, Xiaotao & Li, Xinxian & Hao, Jing & Li, Peigong, 2023. "Price limit change and magnet effect: The role of investor attention," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Shengpeng & Li, Yaokuang & Liang, Ruixin & He, Yu, 2024. "Does management tone matter in information disclosure? Evidence from IPO online roadshows in the SSE STAR market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Ghosh, Indranil & Alfaro-Cortés, Esteban & Gámez, Matías & García-Rubio, Noelia, 2024. "Reflections of public perception of Russia-Ukraine conflict and Metaverse on the financial outlook of Metaverse coins: Fresh evidence from Reddit sentiment analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiang, Fuwei & Lee, Joshua & Martin, Xiumin & Zhou, Guofu, 2019. "Manager sentiment and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 126-149.
    2. Guofu Zhou, 2018. "Measuring Investor Sentiment," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 239-259, November.
    3. Szymon Lis, 2022. "Investor Sentiment in Asset Pricing Models: A Review," Working Papers 2022-14, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    4. Szymon Lis, 2024. "Investor Sentiment in Asset Pricing Models: A Review of Empirical Evidence," Papers 2411.13180, arXiv.org.
    5. Obaid, Khaled & Pukthuanthong, Kuntara, 2022. "A picture is worth a thousand words: Measuring investor sentiment by combining machine learning and photos from news," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 273-297.
    6. Bennett, Donyetta & Mekelburg, Erik & Strauss, Jack & Williams, T.H., 2024. "Unlocking the black box of sentiment and cryptocurrency: What, which, why, when and how?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    7. Gric, Zuzana & Bajzík, Josef & Badura, Ondřej, 2023. "Does sentiment affect stock returns? A meta-analysis across survey-based measures," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Xiong, Xiong & Meng, Yongqiang & Joseph, Nathan Lael & Shen, Dehua, 2020. "Stock mispricing, hard-to-value stocks and the influence of internet stock message boards," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    9. Goodell, John W. & Kumar, Satish & Li, Xiao & Pattnaik, Debidutta & Sharma, Anuj, 2022. "Foundations and research clusters in investor attention: Evidence from bibliometric and topic modelling analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 511-529.
    10. Rui Fan & Oleksandr Talavera & Vu Tran, 2020. "Social media bots and stock markets," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(3), pages 753-777, June.
    11. Ung, Sze Nie & Gebka, Bartosz & Anderson, Robert D.J., 2023. "Is sentiment the solution to the risk–return puzzle? A (cautionary) note," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    12. Daniele Ballinari & Simon Behrendt, 2021. "How to gauge investor behavior? A comparison of online investor sentiment measures," Digital Finance, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 169-204, June.
    13. Chen, Jian & Tang, Guohao & Yao, Jiaquan & Zhou, Guofu, 2023. "Employee sentiment and stock returns," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    14. Ahmad, Khurshid & Han, JingGuang & Hutson, Elaine & Kearney, Colm & Liu, Sha, 2016. "Media-expressed negative tone and firm-level stock returns," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 152-172.
    15. Wang, Wenzhao & Duxbury, Darren, 2021. "Institutional investor sentiment and the mean-variance relationship: Global evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 415-441.
    16. Alejandro Bernales & Marcela Valenzuela & Ilknur Zer, 2023. "Effects of Information Overload on Financial Markets: How Much Is Too Much?," International Finance Discussion Papers 1372, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    17. Yun Liu & Dengshi Huang & Jianan Zhou & Sirui Wang, 2024. "Does image sentiment of major public emergency affect the stock market performance? New insight from deep learning techniques," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(4), pages 4447-4472, December.
    18. Pan, Zhiyuan & Pettenuzzo, Davide & Wang, Yudong, 2020. "Forecasting stock returns: A predictor-constrained approach," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 200-217.
    19. Edmans, Alex & Fernandez-Perez, Adrian & Garel, Alexandre & Indriawan, Ivan, 2022. "Music sentiment and stock returns around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 234-254.
    20. He, Mengxi & Zhang, Yaojie, 2022. "Climate policy uncertainty and the stock return predictability of the oil industry," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:89:y:2023:i:c:s105752192300248x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620166 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.