Trading halts increase, rather than reduce, both volume and volatility. Volume (volatility) in the first full trading day after a trading halt is 230 percent (50 to 115 percent) higher than following 'pseudohalts': nonhalt control periods matched on time of day, duration, and absolute...

For a sample of NYSE firms, we show that wide spreads are accompanied by low depths, and that spreads widen and depths fall in response to higher volume. Spreads widen and depths fall in anticipation of earnings announcements; these effects are more pronounced for announcements with larger...

I examine the predictability of daily returns for the Dow Jones Industrial Average by comparing the technical trading rules developed by Allen and Karjalainen (1999) with moving average rules studied by Brock, Lakonishok, and LeBaron (1992). I argue that this comparison lends support to the...

The authors use a robust regression estimator to analyze the risk premia on size and book-to-market. They find that the risk premium on size that was estimated by Eugene F. Fama and Kenneth R. French (1992) completely disappears when the 1 percent most extreme observations are trimmed each...

When a market order arrives, the NYSE specialist can offer a price one tick better than the limit orders on the book and trade for his own account. Alternatively, the specialist can "stop" the market order, which means he guarantees execution at the current quote but provides the possibility of...

Price improvement is the difference between the execution price of an order and the quoted bid or ask when the order was submitted. We show that expected price improvement falls off dramatically as the size of the order approaches the quoted depth, and becomes negative for larger orders. This is...

For New York Stock Exchange listed securities, the price execution of seemingly comparable orders differs systematically by location. In general, executions at the Cincinnati, Midwest, and New York stock exchanges are most favorable to trade initiators, while executions at the National...

This paper examines the proposition that fluctuations in discounts of closed-end funds are driven by changes in individual investor sentiment. The theory implies that discounts on various funds move together, that new funds get started when seasoned funds sell at a premium or a small discount,...