In this paper we develop the rst estimator of the covariance matrix that relies solely onforward-looking information. This estimator only uses price information from a cross-sectionof plain-vanilla options. In an out-of-sample study for US blue-chip stocks we show that aminimum-variance strategy...

This paper studies the flow-performance relationship of three di®erent investorgroups in mutual funds: Households, financial corporations, and insurance compa-nies and pension funds, establishing the following findings: Financial corporationshave a strong tendency to chase past performance and...

We present evidence of the impact of buy-side analysts on the behavior and performanceof fund managers. Using data provided by a large global asset manager,we relate buy-side analysts’ recommendations to fund transactions on a daily basis.Our results show that buy-side analysts have a...

We examine overconfidence among equity mutual fund managers. While overconfidencehas been extensively documented among retail investors, evidence fromprofessional investors is scarce. Consistent with theories of overconfidence, we findthat fund managers trade more after good past performance....

Standard equity valuation approaches (i.e., DDM, RIM, and DCF model) are derived under theassumption of ideal conditions, such as infinite payoffs and clean surplus accounting. Becausethese conditions are hardly ever met, we extend the standard approaches, based on thefundamental principle of...

The paper explores whether the co-movement of market returns and equity fundflows can be explained by a common response to macroeconomic news. I findthat variables that predict the real economy as well as the equity premium arerelated to mutual fund flows. Changes in dividend-price ratio explain...

Recent empirical research suggests that measures of investor sentimenthave predictive power for future stock returns over the intermediate and longterm. Given the widespread publication of sentiment indicators, smart investorsshould trade on the information conveyed by such indicators and...

This paper investigates the returns and °ows of German money marketfunds before and during the liquidity crisis of 2007/2008. The main¯ndings of this paper are: in liquid times, money market funds en-hanced their returns by investing in less liquid papers. By doing sothey outperformed other...

This paper introduces Schumpeter’s idea of creative destruction into asset pricing.The key point of our model is that small and value firms are more likelydestroyed during technological revolutions, resulting into higher expected returnsfor these stocks. A two-factor model including market...

This paper serves two purposes. First, we introduce a new data set on the German stock marketwhich is publicly available to all researchers. It comprises factor returns (a market factor, asize factor, a book-to-market factor, and a momentum factor) as well as returns of portfolioswhich are...