IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finmar/v62y2023ics1386418122000490.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Limited investor attention and biased reactions to information: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Xu, Liao
  • Zhang, Xuan
  • Zhao, Jing

Abstract

We find that the COVID-19 pandemic increases (decreases) stock return sensitivity to market-wide (firm-specific) news, which is associated with return reversals (delayed reactions). These results are consistent with limited investor attention and investors paying heightened (reduced) attention to macro (micro) information after the outbreak. There are more biased reactions when the epidemic spread is higher, to good news than bad news, for firms headquartered in pandemic epicenters, and for larger stocks. We also find higher (lower) imbalanced trading, information flow, and price efficiency associated with market-wide (firm-specific) news during the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu, Liao & Zhang, Xuan & Zhao, Jing, 2023. "Limited investor attention and biased reactions to information: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finmar:v:62:y:2023:i:c:s1386418122000490
    DOI: 10.1016/j.finmar.2022.100757
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1386418122000490
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.finmar.2022.100757?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. Kottimukkalur, Badrinath, 2019. "Attention to Market Information and Underreaction to Earnings on Market Moving Days," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(6), pages 2493-2516, December.
    2. Xu, Liao & Yin, Xiangkang, 2017. "Does ETF trading affect the efficiency of the underlying index?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 82-101.
    3. Robert M. Bushman & Christopher D. Williams & Regina Wittenberg‐Moerman, 2017. "The Informational Role of the Media in Private Lending," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 115-152, March.
    4. Dang, Tung Lam & Moshirian, Fariborz & Zhang, Bohui, 2015. "Commonality in news around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 82-110.
    5. Comerton-Forde, Carole & Jones, Charles M. & Putniņš, Tālis J., 2016. "Shorting at close range: A tale of two types," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 546-568.
    6. 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.
    7. Niels Joachim Gormsen & Ralph S J Koijen & Nikolai Roussanov, 0. "Coronavirus: Impact on Stock Prices and Growth Expectations," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 574-597.
    8. Lin Peng & Wei Xiong & Tim Bollerslev, 2007. "Investor Attention and Time‐varying Comovements," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 13(3), pages 394-422, June.
    9. Jeeman Jung & Robert J. Shiller, 2005. "Samuelson's Dictum and the Stock Market," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 43(2), pages 221-228, April.
    10. Michael S. Drake & Jared Jennings & Darren T. Roulstone & Jacob R. Thornock, 2017. "The Comovement of Investor Attention," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(9), pages 2847-2867, September.
    11. J Anthony Cookson & Joseph E Engelberg & William Mullins & Hui Chen, 0. "Does Partisanship Shape Investor Beliefs? Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 863-893.
    12. O'Hara, Maureen & Ye, Mao, 2011. "Is market fragmentation harming market quality?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 459-474, June.
    13. Huang, Shiyang & Huang, Yulin & Lin, Tse-Chun, 2019. "Attention allocation and return co-movement: Evidence from repeated natural experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 369-383.
    14. Hirshleifer, David & Sheng, Jinfei, 2022. "Macro news and micro news: Complements or substitutes?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 1006-1024.
    15. Barberis, Nicholas & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1998. "A model of investor sentiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 307-343, September.
    16. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    17. Marcin Kacperczyk & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Laura Veldkamp, 2014. "Time-Varying Fund Manager Skill," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1455-1484, August.
    18. Dominik M. Rösch & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam & Mathijs A. van Dijk, 2017. "The Dynamics of Market Efficiency," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 1151-1187.
    19. Lee, Charles M C & Ready, Mark J, 1991. "Inferring Trade Direction from Intraday Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(2), pages 733-746, June.
    20. Ed Dehaan & Joshua Madsen & Joseph D. Piotroski, 2017. "Do Weather‐Induced Moods Affect the Processing of Earnings News?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 509-550, June.
    21. Chordia, Tarun & Roll, Richard & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2008. "Liquidity and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 249-268, February.
    22. Peng, Lin & Xiong, Wei, 2006. "Investor attention, overconfidence and category learning," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 563-602, June.
    23. Beveridge, Stephen & Nelson, Charles R., 1981. "A new approach to decomposition of economic time series into permanent and transitory components with particular attention to measurement of the `business cycle'," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 151-174.
    24. Choonsik Lee & Kee H. Chung & Sean Yang, 2016. "Corporate Governance and the Informational Efficiency of Prices," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 45(1), pages 239-260, March.
    25. Itzhak Ben‐David & Francesco Franzoni & Rabih Moussawi, 2018. "Do ETFs Increase Volatility?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(6), pages 2471-2535, December.
    26. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    27. Comerton-Forde, Carole & Putniņš, Tālis J., 2015. "Dark trading and price discovery," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 70-92.
    28. Akhtar, Shumi & Faff, Robert & Oliver, Barry & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2011. "The power of bad: The negativity bias in Australian consumer sentiment announcements on stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 1239-1249, May.
    29. Hasbrouck, Joel, 1993. "Assessing the Quality of a Security Market: A New Approach to Transaction-Cost Measurement," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(1), pages 191-212.
    30. 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.
    31. Ji, Qiang & Zhang, Dayong & Zhao, Yuqian, 2020. "Searching for safe-haven assets during the COVID-19 pandemic," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    32. Marcin Kacperczyk & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Laura Veldkamp, 2016. "A Rational Theory of Mutual Funds' Attention Allocation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 571-626, March.
    33. Ekkehart Boehmer & Eric K. Kelley, 2009. "Institutional Investors and the Informational Efficiency of Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(9), pages 3563-3594, September.
    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. Weihan Zhao & Jianing Zhang, 2024. "Investor Attention and Stock Liquidity in the Chinese Market," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 30(1), pages 65-82, February.
    2. Wang, Keyun & Xu, Fengmin & Wang, Shihao & Li, Benchu, 2024. "Data analysis technology and inequality in capital costs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    3. Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis & Gabauer, David & Karim, Sitara, 2024. "Measuring the G20 stock market return transmission mechanism: Evidence from the R2 connectedness approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Xu, Liao & Xue, Mingqi & Zhang, Xuan & Zhao, Yang, 2023. "Heterogeneously informed trading and the stock market efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(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. Xu, Liao & Xue, Mingqi & Zhang, Xuan & Zhao, Yang, 2023. "Heterogeneously informed trading and the stock market efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Xu, Liao & Xu, Lu & Zhao, Jing & Zhao, Yang, 2020. "Information-based trading and information propagation: Evidence from the exchange traded fund market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    3. Jilong Chen & Liao Xu & Yang Zhao, 2020. "Do ETF flows increase market efficiency? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(5), pages 4795-4819, December.
    4. Xu, Liao & Yin, Xiangkang & Zhao, Jing, 2019. "The sidedness and informativeness of ETF trading and the market efficiency of their underlying indexes," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    5. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    6. Liao Xu & Xiangkang Yin & Jing Zhao, 2022. "Are the flows of exchange‐traded funds informative?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(4), pages 1165-1200, December.
    7. Lauter, Tobias & Prokopczuk, Marcel, 2022. "Measuring commodity market quality," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    8. Cheng, Feiyang & Chiao, Chaoshin & Wang, Chunfeng & Fang, Zhenming & Yao, Shouyu, 2021. "Does retail investor attention improve stock liquidity? A dynamic perspective," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 170-183.
    9. Albuquerque, Rui & Song, Shiyun & Yao, Chen, 2017. "The Price Effects of Liquidity Shocks: A Study of SEC’s Tick-Size Experiment," CEPR Discussion Papers 12486, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. 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.
    11. Kee H. Chung & Choonsik Lee & Carl Hsin‐han Shen, 2020. "Passive blockholders, informational efficiency of prices, and firm value," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(3), pages 494-512, July.
    12. Albuquerque, Rui & Song, Shiyun & Yao, Chen, 2020. "The price effects of liquidity shocks: A study of the SEC’s tick size experiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(3), pages 700-724.
    13. Xu, Liao & Pu, Wenyan, 2022. "ETFs, arbitrage activity, and stock market efficiency: Evidence from Chinese CSI 300 ETFs," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-9.
    14. Ehrmann, Michael & Jansen, David-Jan, 2022. "Stock return comovement when investors are distracted: More, and more homogeneous," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    15. Chen, Linda H. & Jiang, George J. & Zhu, Kevin X., 2018. "Total attention: The effect of macroeconomic news on market reaction to earnings news," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 142-156.
    16. Chen, Xing & Diao, Xundi & Wu, Chongfeng, 2022. "Heterogeneous investor attention and post earnings announcement drift: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    17. Drummond, Philip A., 2023. "Market quality surrounding anticipated distraction events: Evidence from the FIFA World Cup," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    18. Rösch, Dominik, 2021. "The impact of arbitrage on market liquidity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 195-213.
    19. Hua Wang & Liao Xu, 2019. "Do exchange‐traded fund flows increase the volatility of the underlying index? Evidence from the emerging market in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(5), pages 1525-1548, March.
    20. Cakici, Nusret & Zaremba, Adam, 2021. "Who should be afraid of infections? Pandemic exposure and the cross-section of stock returns," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19 pandemic; Limited investor attention; Market reaction; Negativity bias; News release;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:finmar:v:62:y:2023:i:c:s1386418122000490. 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/finmar .

    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.