IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/assmgt/v23y2022i2d10.1057_s41260-021-00254-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The COVID-19 pandemic, short-sale ban, and market efficiency: empirical evidence from the European equity markets

Author

Listed:
  • Seungho Lee

    (University of Aberdeen)

Abstract

This study looks at the inefficiency of stock indices of France, Italy, and Spain around their financial regulatory authorities’ short-sale ban during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The empirical analysis of this study provides evidence of price predictability of the basis of futures contract prior to the short-sale restriction. Moreover, the results show a significant underpricing in futures contracts of FTSE MIB and IBEX35 indices while the two months of short-sale banned period. These findings suggest that prohibiting short selling during the market downturn might undermine the stock markets’ efficiency and generate arbitrage opportunities for speculative investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Seungho Lee, 2022. "The COVID-19 pandemic, short-sale ban, and market efficiency: empirical evidence from the European equity markets," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 156-171, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:assmgt:v:23:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1057_s41260-021-00254-w
    DOI: 10.1057/s41260-021-00254-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41260-021-00254-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41260-021-00254-w?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. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2015. "Commodity Futures Prices: Some Evidence on Forecast Power, Premiums, and the Theory of Storage," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Anastasios G Malliaris & William T Ziemba (ed.), THE WORLD SCIENTIFIC HANDBOOK OF FUTURES MARKETS, chapter 4, pages 79-102, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    3. Topcu, Mert & Gulal, Omer Serkan, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 on emerging stock markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    4. Giulia Pullano & Laura Di Domenico & Chiara E. Sabbatini & Eugenio Valdano & Clément Turbelin & Marion Debin & Caroline Guerrisi & Charly Kengne-Kuetche & Cécile Souty & Thomas Hanslik & Thierry Blanc, 2021. "Underdetection of cases of COVID-19 in France threatens epidemic control," Nature, Nature, vol. 590(7844), pages 134-139, February.
    5. J. Stevens, 2013. "Testing the efficiency of the futures market for crude oil using weighted least squares," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(18), pages 1611-1613, December.
    6. Eric C. Chang & Joseph W. Cheng & Yinghui Yu, 2007. "Short‐Sales Constraints and Price Discovery: Evidence from the Hong Kong Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(5), pages 2097-2121, October.
    7. Tung Liang Liao & Li-Chueh Tsai & Mei-Chu Ke & Yi-Chein Chiang & Chuan-Hao Hsu, 2019. "Financial crisis and market efficiency: evidence from European stock markets," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(13), pages 1194-1210, September.
    8. A. Andani & J. A. Lafuente & A. Novales, 2009. "Liquidity and hedging effectiveness under futures mispricing: International evidence," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(11), pages 1050-1066, November.
    9. Arturo Bris & William N. Goetzmann & Ning Zhu, 2007. "Efficiency and the Bear: Short Sales and Markets Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1029-1079, June.
    10. Jones, Charles M. & Lamont, Owen A., 2002. "Short-sale constraints and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 207-239.
    11. Robert Battalio & Hamid Mehran & T. Paul Schultz, 2012. "Market declines: what is accomplished by banning short-selling?," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 18(Aug).
    12. Al-Awadhi, Abdullah M. & Alsaifi, Khaled & Al-Awadhi, Ahmad & Alhammadi, Salah, 2020. "Death and contagious infectious diseases: Impact of the COVID-19 virus on stock market returns," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    13. Lorne N. Switzer & Mario El‐Khoury, 2007. "Extreme volatility, speculative efficiency, and the hedging effectiveness of the oil futures markets," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 61-84, January.
    14. Chen, Yi-Wen & Chen, Sheng-Syan & Chou, Robin K., 2020. "Short-Sale Constraints and Options Trading: Evidence from Reg SHO," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(5), pages 1555-1579, August.
    15. Chen, Yong & Kelly, Bryan & Wu, Wei, 2020. "Sophisticated investors and market efficiency: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(2), pages 316-341.
    16. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1845-1876 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Brogaard, Jonathan & Hendershott, Terrence & Riordan, Ryan, 2017. "High frequency trading and the 2008 short-sale ban," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 22-42.
    18. Swati Bhatt & Nusret Cakici, 1990. "Premiums on stock index futures‐some evidence," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 367-375, August.
    19. Ian Appel & Caroline Fohlin, 2010. ""Shooting the Messenger?" The Impact of Short Sale Bans in Times of Crisis," Economics Working Paper Archive 574, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics.
    20. Grundy, Bruce D. & Lim, Bryan & Verwijmeren, Patrick, 2012. "Do option markets undo restrictions on short sales? Evidence from the 2008 short-sale ban," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 331-348.
    21. Fama, Eugene F., 1984. "Forward and spot exchange rates," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 319-338, November.
    22. Diamond, Douglas W. & Verrecchia, Robert E., 1987. "Constraints on short-selling and asset price adjustment to private information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 277-311, June.
    23. A. Craig MacKinlay, Krishna Ramaswamy, 1988. "Index-Futures Arbitrage and the Behavior of Stock Index Futures Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 1(2), pages 137-158.
    24. Robert Battalio & Paul Schultz, 2011. "Regulatory Uncertainty and Market Liquidity: The 2008 Short Sale Ban's Impact on Equity Option Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(6), pages 2013-2053, December.
    25. Ekkehart Boehmer & Charles M. Jones & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2013. "Shackling Short Sellers: The 2008 Shorting Ban," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(6), pages 1363-1400.
    26. Ekkehart Boehmer & Juan (Julie) Wu, 2013. "Short Selling and the Price Discovery Process," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 287-322.
    27. Massimo Massa & Bohui Zhang & Hong Zhang, 2015. "The Invisible Hand of Short Selling: Does Short Selling Discipline Earnings Management?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(6), pages 1701-1736.
    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. Luu, Ellie & Xu, Fangming & Zheng, Liyi, 2023. "Short-selling activities in the time of COVID-19," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    2. Bessler, Wolfgang & Vendrasco, Marco, 2022. "Short-selling restrictions and financial stability in Europe: Evidence from the Covid-19 crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(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. Eom, Yunsung & Hahn, Jaehoon & Sohn, Wook, 2021. "Short sales restrictions and market quality: Evidence from Korea," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    2. Alves, Carlos & Mendes, Victor & Silva, Paulo Pereira da, 2016. "Analysis of market quality before and during short-selling bans," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 252-268.
    3. Boulton, Thomas J. & Smart, Scott B. & Zutter, Chad J., 2020. "Worldwide short selling regulations and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Nishiotis, George P. & Rompolis, Leonidas S., 2019. "Put-call parity violations and return predictability: Evidence from the 2008 short sale ban," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 276-297.
    5. He, Meng & Bai, Xuelian & Zhang, Junrui, 2024. "Does short selling reduce classification shifting?—— Exploration of market-oriented governance mechanism," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Bessler, Wolfgang & Vendrasco, Marco, 2022. "Short-selling restrictions and financial stability in Europe: Evidence from the Covid-19 crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Van Le, 2016. "The effect of short-sale restrictions: another perspective," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 700-714, October.
    8. Larry Su & Elmina Homapour & Francisco Chiclana, 2022. "Short-Sale Constraints and Stock Prices: Evidence from Implementation of Securities Refinancing Mechanism in Chinese Stock Markets," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(17), pages 1-21, September.
    9. Chen, Yong & Da, Zhi & Huang, Dayong, 2022. "Short selling efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 387-408.
    10. Stephen L. Lenkey, 2021. "Informed Trading with a Short-Sale Prohibition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 1803-1824, March.
    11. Shyu, Yih-Wen & Chan, Kam C. & Liang, Hsin-Yu, 2018. "Spillovers of price efficiency and informed trading from short sales to margin purchases in absence of uptick rule," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 163-183.
    12. Louis Gagnon & Jonathan Witmer, 2014. "Distribution of Ownership, Short Sale Constraints, and Market Efficiency: Evidence from Cross-Listed Stocks," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(3), pages 631-670, September.
    13. Wang, Yuchen & Wang, Xiaoming, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainty and information intermediary: The case of short seller," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    14. Hae Mi Choi, 2020. "Short‐sale constraints and informational efficiency to private information: A natural experiment," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 625-643, November.
    15. Paulo Pereira da Silva, 2016. "Did Investors Seeking Short Exposure Move to the CDS Market after the 2011 Short-Sale Bans in European Financial Stocks?," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 66(4), pages 322-353, August.
    16. Lee, Seungho & Meslmani, Nabil El & Switzer, Lorne N., 2020. "Pricing Efficiency and Arbitrage in the Bitcoin Spot and Futures Markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    17. Zhao, Zhongkuang & Li, Shuqi & Xiong, Heping, 2014. "Short sale constraints, disperse pessimistic beliefs and market efficiency — Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 333-342.
    18. Jank, Stephan & Roling, Christoph & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2021. "Flying under the radar: The effects of short-sale disclosure rules on investor behavior and stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 209-233.
    19. Jiang, Haiyan & Chen, Jun, 2019. "Short selling and financial reporting quality: Evidence from Chinese AH shares," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 118-130.
    20. Chen, Shenglan & Chou, Robin K. & Liu, Xiaoling & Wu, Yuhui, 2020. "Deregulation of short-selling constraints and cost of bank loans: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Speculation; Efficient markets; Futures arbitrage; COVID-19;
    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
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements

    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:pal:assmgt:v:23:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1057_s41260-021-00254-w. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    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.