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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 114 No. 1 2014

News-driven return reversals: Liquidity provision ahead of earnings announcements

Eric C. So1; Sean Wang2

1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology · 2 University of North Carolina, United States

Abstract

This study documents a six-fold increase in short-term return reversals during earnings announcements relative to non-announcement periods. Following prior research, we use reversals as a proxy for expected returns market makers demand for providing liquidity. Our findings highlight significant time-series variation in the magnitude of short-term return reversals and suggest that market makers demand higher expected returns prior to earnings announcements because of increased inventory risks that stem from holding net positions through the release of anticipated earnings news. Collectively, our findings suggest that uncertainty regarding anticipated information events elicits predictable increases in the compensation demanded for providing liquidity and that these increases significantly affect the dynamics and information content of market prices.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2014.06.009
Volume
114
Issue
1
Pages
20-35
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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