We study the interdependencies between transaction costs, portfolio characteristics, and mutual fund performance. Using a novel dataset of actual mutual fund trades, we find that, controlling for investment style, larger funds realize lower percentage transaction costs than smaller funds. Larger...

This paper shows that distressed stocks and bonds are overpriced during high sentiment periods. The correction of overpricing leads to a range of anomalous cross-sectional patterns in stock and bond returns. Including bonds as additional test assets allows us to develop testable restrictions...

Do order flows in index derivatives play an informational role? Weekly index put order flow on the International Securities Exchange positively and robustly predicts weekly S&P 500 index returns. This result obtains mainly for net put buying and is stronger in high VIX periods and in periods...

This paper uses the volatility surface data from options contracts to document a strong, robust, and positive cross-sectional relation between risk-neutral skewness (RNS) and subsequent stock returns. The differential return between high and low RNS stocks amounts to 0.17% per week....

Market efficiency, the timely incorporation of information into prices, remains a central and controversial issue in finance. The short-horizon predictability of returns from past order flows is an inverse indicator of efficiency. We analyze this predictability for NYSE stocks that traded every...

Following the recent financial crisis, a number of commentators have suggested that liquidity disappears in falling markets. It is when investors try to convert assets to cash that a lack of liquidity is felt most acutely. In other words, investor sales receive lower liquidity than investor...