This study examines the information content of Standard & Poor's common stock ranking changes. Since prior studies find Standard & Poor's common stock rankings provide investors with a measure of risk, a ranking change may signify a change in risk. Common stock ranking changes made by Standard &...

This paper examines stock price reactions to changes in Standard & Poor's common stock rankings. Using internal memoranda obtained directly from Standard & Poor's, an event study methodology, and a sample of 191 upgrades and 582 downgrades, we find that the majority of stock price reactions...

This study examines the information content of Standard & Poor's common stock ranking changes. Since prior studies find Standard & Poor's common stock rankings provide investors with a measure of risk, a ranking change may signify a change in risk. Common stock ranking changes made by Standard &...

In this study, we document evidence of a quot;reversequot; weekend effect - whereby, Monday returns are significantly positive and they are higher than the returns on other days of the week - over an extended period of eleven years (from 1988 to 1998). We also find that the quot;traditionalquot;...

In this study, an interesting aspect of the secondary market's pricing of the riskiness of insured municipal bonds is examined. Do secondary market investors still consider the underlying intrinsic credit quality of the issuer in pricing insured bonds? Is the pricing of this 'issuer effect'...

In this paper we introduce a new financial product named Outperformance Certificates PLUS and we provide detailed descriptions of the product specifications. We show that the payoff of an Outperformance Certificates PLUS can be duplicated by the combination of a long position in the underlying...

In this paper we introduce a new financial product named Outperformance Certificates. We study the €43 billion sample by examining 1,507 issues of the certificates outstanding in August 2005 issued by banks in Europe. We present formulas to price the certificates and empirically examine the...

This study examines two channels through which Chinese government intervenes in business activities: direct intervention via government ownership and indirect intervention via strategic development plans in selected areas. The findings show that these interventions affect corporate policies...

In this paper, we find a 'reverse%rsquo; weekend effect - whereby returns for Monday are positive and significantly greater than returns for the preceding Friday - in recent data for major stock indexes. We also find that, while a weak weekend effect exists in portfolios of smaller firms, the...