IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v56y2013i2p251-266.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Market reaction to earnings news: A unified test of information risk and transaction costs

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Qi
  • Cai, Charlie X.
  • Keasey, Kevin

Abstract

We examine how information risk and transaction costs influence the initial and subsequent market reaction to earnings news. We find that the initial market reaction is higher per unit of earnings surprise for higher information risk firms (information content effect). Furthermore, it is information risk that induces transaction costs that limit the initial market reaction and lead to higher subsequent drift (transaction costs effect). Information risk does not have an effect on drift beyond that achieved through transaction costs. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the linkage between information risk and transaction costs in price discovery around public disclosure.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Qi & Cai, Charlie X. & Keasey, Kevin, 2013. "Market reaction to earnings news: A unified test of information risk and transaction costs," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 251-266.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:56:y:2013:i:2:p:251-266
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2013.08.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410113000517
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2013.08.002?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. Atiase, Rk, 1985. "Predisclosure Information, Firm Capitalization, And Security Price Behavior Around Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 21-36.
    2. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    3. Klein, Roger W. & Bawa, Vijay S., 1976. "The effect of estimation risk on optimal portfolio choice," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 215-231, June.
    4. Grossman, Sanford J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1980. "On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 393-408, June.
    5. Richard Roll & Eduardo Schwartz & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2007. "Liquidity and the Law of One Price: The Case of the Futures‐Cash Basis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(5), pages 2201-2234, October.
    6. Pastor, Lubos & Stambaugh, Robert F., 2003. "Liquidity Risk and Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(3), pages 642-685, June.
    7. Copeland, Thomas E & Galai, Dan, 1983. "Information Effects on the Bid-Ask Spread," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 38(5), pages 1457-1469, December.
    8. Glosten, Lawrence R. & Milgrom, Paul R., 1985. "Bid, ask and transaction prices in a specialist market with heterogeneously informed traders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 71-100, March.
    9. Verrecchia, Robert E., 2001. "Essays on disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 97-180, December.
    10. Lesmond, David A & Ogden, Joseph P & Trzcinka, Charles A, 1999. "A New Estimate of Transaction Costs," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(5), pages 1113-1141.
    11. Harold Demsetz, 1968. "The Cost of Transacting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 82(1), pages 33-53.
    12. Paul C. Tetlock, 2010. "Does Public Financial News Resolve Asymmetric Information?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(9), pages 3520-3557.
    13. Cohen, Daniel A. & Dey, Aiyesha & Lys, Thomas Z. & Sunder, Shyam V., 2007. "Earnings announcement premia and the limits to arbitrage," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 153-180, July.
    14. Sadka, Ronnie, 2006. "Momentum and post-earnings-announcement drift anomalies: The role of liquidity risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 309-349, May.
    15. Michael, Panos & Nobay, A Robert & Peel, David A, 1997. "Transactions Costs and Nonlinear Adjustment in Real Exchange Rates: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(4), pages 862-879, August.
    16. Kim, O & Verrecchia, Re, 1991. "Trading Volume And Price Reactions To Public Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 302-321.
    17. Martin Martens & Paul Kofman & Ton C. F. Vorst, 1998. "A threshold error-correction model for intraday futures and index returns," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(3), pages 245-263.
    18. Zeghal, Daniel, 1984. "Firm Size and the Informational Content of Financial Statements," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 299-310, September.
    19. Bamber, Ls, 1986. "The Information-Content Of Annual Earnings Releases - A Trading Volume Approach," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 40-56.
    20. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    21. Kyle, Albert S, 1985. "Continuous Auctions and Insider Trading," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(6), pages 1315-1335, November.
    22. X. Frank Zhang, 2006. "Information Uncertainty and Analyst Forecast Behavior," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 565-590, June.
    23. Maureen O'Hara, 2003. "Presidential Address: Liquidity and Price Discovery," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1335-1354, August.
    24. Bernard, Vl & Thomas, Jk, 1989. "Post-Earnings-Announcement Drift - Delayed Price Response Or Risk Premium," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27, pages 1-36.
    25. Berkman, Henk & Dimitrov, Valentin & Jain, Prem C. & Koch, Paul D. & Tice, Sheri, 2009. "Sell on the news: Differences of opinion, short-sales constraints, and returns around earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 376-399, June.
    26. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    27. Ke, Bin & Ramalingegowda, Santhosh, 2005. "Do institutional investors exploit the post-earnings announcement drift?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 25-53, February.
    28. Barry, Christopher B. & Brown, Stephen J., 1984. "Differential information and the small firm effect," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 283-294, June.
    29. Charlie X. Cai & David Hillier & Robert Hudson & Kevin Keasey, 2008. "Trading Frictions and Market Structure: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3‐4), pages 563-579, April.
    30. Jennifer L. Blouin & Jana Smith Raedy & Douglas A. Shackelford, 2003. "Capital Gains Taxes and Equity Trading: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 611-651, September.
    31. Sercu, Piet & Uppal, Raman & Van Hulle, Cynthia, 1995. "The Exchange Rate in the Presence of Transaction Costs: Implications for Tests of Purchasing Power Parity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1309-1319, September.
    32. Brown, Stephen & Hillegeist, Stephen A. & Lo, Kin, 2009. "The effect of earnings surprises on information asymmetry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 208-225, June.
    33. Richard R. Mendenhall, 2004. "Arbitrage Risk and Post-Earnings-Announcement Drift," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 77(4), pages 875-894, October.
    34. Jon A. Garfinkel & Jonathan Sokobin, 2006. "Volume, Opinion Divergence, and Returns: A Study of Post–Earnings Announcement Drift," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 85-112, March.
    35. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    36. Barry, Christopher B. & Brown, Stephen J., 1985. "Differential Information and Security Market Equilibrium," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(4), pages 407-422, December.
    37. Jeffrey Ng & Tjomme O. Rusticus & Rodrigo S. Verdi, 2008. "Implications of Transaction Costs for the Post–Earnings Announcement Drift," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 661-696, June.
    38. Hans R. Stoll, 2000. "Presidential Address: Friction," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1479-1514, August.
    39. Freeman, Robert N., 1987. "The association between accounting earnings and security returns for large and small firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 195-228, July.
    40. Pradeep K. Yadav & Peter F. Pope & Krishna Paudyal, 1994. "Threshold Autoregressive Modeling In Finance: The Price Differences Of Equivalent Assets1," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(2), pages 205-221, April.
    41. Klein, Roger W. & Bawa, Vijay S., 1977. "The effect of limited information and estimation risk on optimal portfolio diversification," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 89-111, August.
    42. Charlie X. Cai & David Hillier & Robert Hudson & Kevin Keasey, 2008. "Trading Frictions and Market Structure: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3‐4), pages 563-579, April.
    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. Jeff L. McMullin & Brian P. Miller & Brady J. Twedt, 2019. "Increased mandated disclosure frequency and price formation: evidence from the 8-K expansion regulation," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 1-33, March.
    2. A. William Richardson & Kevin Veenstra, 2022. "The Post‐earnings Announcement Drift: A Pre‐earnings Announcement Effect? A Multi‐period Analysis," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 58(4), pages 648-678, December.
    3. Chung, Kee H. & Kim, Oliver & Lim, Steve C. & Yang, Sean, 2019. "An analytical measure of market underreaction to earnings news," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 612-624.
    4. Goh, Jihoon & Jeon, Byoung-Hyun, 2017. "Post-earnings-announcement-drift and 52-week high: Evidence from Korea," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 150-159.
    5. Gungoraydinoglu, Ali & Çolak, Gönül & Öztekin, Özde, 2017. "Political environment, financial intermediation costs, and financing patterns," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 167-192.
    6. repec:grz:wpsses:2020-04 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Liu, Ke & Fu, Qiang & Ma, Qing & Ren, Xiang, 2024. "Does geopolitical risk affect exports? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1558-1569.
    8. Fink, Josef, 2021. "A review of the Post-Earnings-Announcement Drift," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    9. Costola, Michele & Hinz, Oliver & Nofer, Michael & Pelizzon, Loriana, 2023. "Machine learning sentiment analysis, COVID-19 news and stock market reactions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. Le, Anh & Yin, Xiangkang & Zhao, Jing, 2019. "Informed trading around earnings announcements in Australia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    11. repec:grz:wpsses:2021-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Liu, Ke & Fu, Qiang, 2024. "How does geopolitical risk affect international freight?," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    13. Edward A. E. Jones & Anthony K. Kyiu & Hao Li, 2021. "Earnings informativeness and trading frequency: Evidence from African markets," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 1064-1086, January.
    14. Zhang, Sijia & Gregoriou, Andros, 2020. "Post earnings announcement drift, liquidity and zero leverage firms: Evidence from the UK stock market," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 13-26.
    15. Anagnostopoulou, Seraina C. & Tsekrekos, Andrianos E., 2015. "Accounting quality, information risk and implied volatility around earnings announcements," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 188-207.
    16. Kelley Bergsma & Jitendra Tayal, 2019. "Short Interest and Lottery Stocks," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 48(1), pages 187-227, March.
    17. Fenghua Wen & Yujie Yuan & Wei-Xing Zhou, 2019. "Cross-shareholding networks and stock price synchronicity: Evidence from China," Papers 1903.01655, arXiv.org.
    18. Fenghua Wen & Yujie Yuan & Wei‐Xing Zhou, 2021. "Cross‐shareholding networks and stock price synchronicity: Evidence from China," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 914-948, January.
    19. Martineau, Charles, 2021. "Rest in Peace Post-Earnings Announcement Drift," SocArXiv z7k3p, Center for Open Science.

    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. Qi Zhang & Charlie Cai & Kevin Keasey, 2014. "The profitability, costs and systematic risk of the post-earnings-announcement-drift trading strategy," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 605-625, October.
    2. Ali, Ashiq & Chen, Xuanjuan & Yao, Tong & Yu, Tong, 2020. "Can mutual funds profit from post earnings announcement drift? The role of competition," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Richardson, Scott & Tuna, Irem & Wysocki, Peter, 2010. "Accounting anomalies and fundamental analysis: A review of recent research advances," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 410-454, December.
    4. Vayanos, Dimitri & Wang, Jiang, 2013. "Market Liquidity—Theory and Empirical Evidence ," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1289-1361, Elsevier.
    5. Ding, Xiaoya (Sara) & Ni, Yang & Zhong, Ligang, 2016. "Free float and market liquidity around the world," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 236-257.
    6. Jeffrey Ng & Tjomme O. Rusticus & Rodrigo S. Verdi, 2008. "Implications of Transaction Costs for the Post–Earnings Announcement Drift," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 661-696, June.
    7. Patrick J. Kelly, 2014. "Information Efficiency and Firm-Specific Return Variation," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(04), pages 1-44.
    8. Jonathan A. Milian, 2015. "Unsophisticated Arbitrageurs and Market Efficiency: Overreacting to a History of Underreaction?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 175-220, March.
    9. Baker, Malcolm & Stein, Jeremy C., 2004. "Market liquidity as a sentiment indicator," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 271-299, June.
    10. Chung, Kee H. & Kim, Oliver & Lim, Steve C. & Yang, Sean, 2019. "An analytical measure of market underreaction to earnings news," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 612-624.
    11. Jagjeev Dosanjh, 2017. "Exchange Initiatives and Market Efficiency: Evidence from the Australian Securities Exchange," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 1-2017, January-A.
    12. Brennan, Michael J. & Chordia, Tarun & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar & Tong, Qing, 2012. "Sell-order liquidity and the cross-section of expected stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 523-541.
    13. repec:uts:finphd:34 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Goetzmann, William N. & Huang, Simon, 2018. "Momentum in Imperial Russia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 579-591.
    15. Michael J. Brennan & Sahn-Wook Huh & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2016. "Asymmetric Effects of Informed Trading on the Cost of Equity Capital," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(9), pages 2460-2480, September.
    16. Lee, Jieun & Ryu, Doojin, 2019. "How does FX liquidity affect the relationship between foreign ownership and stock liquidity?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 101-119.
    17. Gregory Connor & Lisa R. Goldberg & Robert A. Korajczyk, 2010. "Portfolio Risk Analysis," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9224.
    18. Florackis, Chris & Gregoriou, Andros & Kostakis, Alexandros, 2011. "Trading frequency and asset pricing on the London Stock Exchange: Evidence from a new price impact ratio," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 3335-3350.
    19. Asad Kausar, 2018. "Post-Earnings-Announcement Drift and the Return Predictability of Earnings Levels: One Effect or Two?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(10), pages 4877-4892, October.
    20. Shai Levi & Xiao-Jun Zhang, 2015. "Do Temporary Increases in Information Asymmetry Affect the Cost of Equity?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(2), pages 354-371, February.
    21. Xiaofei Zhao, 2017. "Does Information Intensity Matter for Stock Returns? Evidence from Form 8-K Filings," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(5), pages 1382-1404, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information risk; Transaction costs; Price discovery; Earnings announcements;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • 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:jaecon:v:56:y:2013:i:2:p:251-266. 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/jae .

    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.