We develop a model to analyze the effects of hedging activities by options market makers (OMMs) facing informed trading. The model suggests that OMMs׳ hedging activities motivated by adverse-selection risk lead to wider spreads in both stock and options markets. The hedging effect on spreads is...

We perform a large-scale empirical analysis of pairs trading, a popular relative-value arbitrage approach. We start with a cross-country study of 34 international stock markets and uncover that abnormal returns are a persistent phenomenon. We then construct a comprehensive U.S. data set to...

We study the impact of style representation on portfolio choice using the choices of the Swedish population in their retirement accounts. We show that investor choice depends on how funds are grouped in the menu (“styles”). An exogenous increase in the style representation increases...

Using all trading in Finland over a 15-year period, I study the relation between price changes and the trading of individuals and financial institutions. On average, prices increase when institutions buy from individuals, and decrease when institutions sell to individuals. No such consistent...

Institutional ownership affects the sensitivity of stock returns to changes in market liquidity (liquidity risk). Overall, institutional ownership lowers the liquidity risk of stocks. However, different types of institutions affect liquidity risk in opposite ways. Stocks held by hedge funds,...

In this paper, we investigate the predictability of corporate bond excess returns using a comprehensive data sample for the period from January 1973 to December 2010. We find that corporate bond returns are more predictable than stock returns, and the predictability tends to be higher for...

Does it matter to market quality if broker identities are revealed after a trade and only to the two traders involved? We find that implementing full anonymity dramatically improves liquidity and reduces trader execution costs. To explain this, we compare theories based on asymmetric information...

I empirically investigate whether macroeconomic uncertainty is a priced risk factor in the cross-section of equity and index option returns. The analysis employs a non-linear factor model, estimated with the Fama-MacBeth methodology, where the macroeconomic uncertainty factor is the return on a...

We study the dynamics of liquidity and news releases around jumps by identifying their intraday timing for the Dow Jones Industrial Average index constituents. Jumps are found to coincide with a significant increase in trading costs and demand for immediacy, amplified by the release of news....

We examine the impact on stock prices of a major upgrade to the New York Stock Exchange's trading environment. The upgrade improved information dissemination on the trading floor and reduced the latency in reporting trades and quotes. The portion of the upgrade that reduced latency for...