This paper examines the predictive power of investment managers' sentiment revealed in their letters to shareholders … for their future performance, using closed-end funds (CEFs) as a laboratory. We find that pessimistic tone in managers … managers exert more effort when they feel at a loss relative to their reference points …

corroborate these findings to reveal more pronounced effects when fund managers have stronger career incentives and are less …

. Overall, the results show that the time horizon of conference call narratives can be informative about managers' myopic …

report high equity earnings. Managers rely most heavily on debt to finance their asset growth when their future earnings … perspective equity is "expensive". Managers of high debt issuing firms are more likely to be newly appointed and also more likely …