We conduct a volatility decomposition to identify the source of performance differences between low volatility and high volatility mutual funds. A higher level of return covariance of fund holdings is associated with more fund-level exposure to the idiosyncratic volatility effect. Average...

Employing asset-pricing models over the period 2012 to 2017, this study examines whether a search attention index (SAI) explains the variation in the weekly excess return of stocks. The study finds that the estimated abnormal return of a portfolio based on search intensity is significantly high...

This paper proposes several new holdings-based measures of fund investment horizon, and examines the relation between manager skills and fund holding horizon. We find that both aggregate holdings and trades of long-horizon funds are informative about superior future long-term stock returns,...

In this study, an attempt has been made to find out why investors still prefer broker-sold fund over direct-sold fund despite the superior performance of the latter. We find the sensitivity of funds flow in selected direct-sold funds and broker-sold funds in India. We do not find any evidence...

What do asset managers believe regarding the financial performance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment strategies? We address this question by exploring the relationship between fund managers’ co-ownership and portfolio ESG performance. Managers with more “skin in the...

Many recent papers have investigated the role played by volatility in determining the cross-section of currency returns. This paper employs two time-varying factor models: a threshold model and a Markov-switching model to price the excess returns from the currency carry trade. We show that the...

This paper tests whether fluctuations in investors' attention affect stock return comovement with national and global markets, and which stocks are most affected. We measure fluctuations in investor attention using 59 high-profile soccer matches played during stock market trading hours at the...

Many financial instruments are designed with embedded leverage such as options and leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs). Embedded leverage alleviates investors' leverage constraints and, therefore, we hypothesize that embedded leverage lowers required returns. Consistent with this hypothesis,...