This study examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on sovereign CDS spreads using a large sample of countries. We show how sovereign CDS spreads have widened significantly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the most conservative estimate, a 1% increase in COVID-19 infections...

This study examines the effect of economic and political uncertainty on sovereign CDS spreads using a novel panel index of world uncertainty. We document that sovereign CDS spreads widen with uncertainty. A 1% increase in uncertainty leads to a 0.86% increase in sovereign CDS spreads....

Using high-frequency intraday trading and quoting data, we study the temporal effects in index credit default swap (CDS) trading and liquidity. We find strong intraday variations in index CDS trading activities and liquidity. Unlike the U-shaped pattern in the equity market, index CDSs exhibit a...

Using a news-based index of geopolitical risk (GPR), we document a strong negative relationship between firm-level corporate investment and GPR. When the GPR index doubles, investment rate in the next quarter declines by 14% of its sample mean. The effect is more pronounced for firms with more...

Using a news-based index of economic policy uncertainty (EPU), we find that EPU is positively associated with credit default swap (CDS) spreads and negatively associated with the number of liquidity providers in the CDS market. A 10% increase in EPU leads to an 8.4% increase in CDS spreads and a...

This paper examines the impact of sentiment in an online message forum on stock returns. Using a novel controlled experiment, we collect a large panel of messages with no fundamental information but strong sentiment and stock return data. We find a significant causal effect of social media...

This paper investigates whether venture-backed investments in clean technologies support carbon neutrality. Using Pitchbook’s data on more than 65,000 venture capital investments in 110 countries from 2011 to 2022, we document that venture-backed investments in clean technologies increase both...

Using a large set of hedge fund 13D filing and news data for the period of 2000 to 2019, we document that firms with more negative media sentiment are more likely to be targeted by hedge funds. The media sentiment of target firms reverts to normal level after the 13D filing dates. Our analysis...

Newly public firms may provide misleading information about their business plans in their initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses. Using textual analysis, we develop a simple measure of such misleading information based on the difference between the emphasis placed on business lines in the...

Using a novel dataset of news events for 170,000 entities across over 100 countries, we find that media sentiment plays an important role in the market for merger and acquisition. Firms with high media sentiment are more likely to become an acquirer. The effect of media on the likelihood of an...