We reveal a novel channel through which market participants' sentiment influences how they forecast stock returns: their optimism (pessimism) affects the weights they assign to fundamentals. Our analysis yields four main findings. First, if good (bad) “news” about dividends and interest...

We use machine learning tools to analyze industry return predictability based on theinformation in lagged industry returns from across the entire economy. Controlling forpost-selection inference and multiple testing, we nd significant in-sample evidence ofindustry return predictability. Lagged...

We survey the literature on stock return forecasting, highlighting the challenges faced by forecasters as well as strategies for improving return forecasts. We focus on U.S. equity premium forecastability and illustrate key issues via an empirical application based on updated data. Some studies...

We assess financial theory-based and machine learning-implied measurements of stock risk premia by comparing the quality of their return forecasts. In the low signal-to-noise environment of a one month horizon, we find that it is preferable to rely on a theory-based approach instead of engaging...

Patton and Timmermann (2011, 'Forecast Rationality Tests Based on Multi-Horizon Bounds', Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, forthcoming) propose a set of useful tests for forecast rationality or optimality under squared error loss, including an easily implemented test based on a...

This paper studies return predictability in federal funds futures. I show that over the period 1990 to 2018, predictor variables from the literature do not consistently outperform the expectations hypothesis when evaluated out-of-sample. Further, while forecasts from advanced forecasting methods...

We compare the performance of popular covariance forecasting models in the context of a portfolio of major European equity indices. We find that models based on high-frequency data offer a clear advantage in terms of statistical accuracy. They also yield more theoretically consistent predictions...

Using a novel equity lending dataset, this paper is the first to show that expected returns strongly and negatively predict future equity lending fees. In comparing two expected return measures, I find that a rational expected return has stronger predictive power of future short selling activity...

We introduce a new measure of stock misevaluation, 𝑄, which is consistent with the Gordon growth model for firm valuation. In our empirical application, we use 𝑄 to relate analyst forecasts to stock returns and measure the profitability of investment strategies that rely on information in...