This paper examines the information embedded in both the stock and option markets prior to takeover announcements. During normal periods, buyer-seller initiated stock volume imbalances are significant predictors of next-day stock returns and option volume imbalances are uninformative. However,...

We test the hypothesis that insider trading impairs market liquidity, by analyzing intraday trades and quotes around 1,497 IPO lockup expirations in the period 1995-1999. We find that, while lockup expirations are associated with considerable insider trading for some IPO firms, they have little...

This article empirically analyzes some properties shared by all one-dimensional diffusion option models. Using Samp;P 500 options, we find that when sampled intraday (or inter-day), (i) call (put) prices often go down (up) even as the underlying price goes up, and (ii) call and put prices often...

Recent empirical studies find that once an option pricing model has incorporated stochastic volatility, allowing interest rates to be stochastic does not improve pricing or hedging any further while adding random jumps to the modeling framework only helps the pricing of extremely short-term...

Substantial progress has been made in extending the Black-Scholes model to incorporate such features as stochastic volatility, stochastic interest rates and jumps.On the empirical front, however, it is not yet known whether and by how much each generalized feature will improve option pricing and...

Substantial progress has been made in extending the Black- Scholes model to incorporate such features as stochastic volatility, stochastic interest rates and jumps. On the empirical front, however, it is not yet known whether and by how much each generalized feature will improve option pricing...

This paper tests for differences in execution costs among specialist firms for NYSE listed securities. Execution cost differences provide a useful measure of the relative performance of specialist firms. We find a substantial difference in effective spreads and order processing costs across...

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) switched from a fractional to a decimal trading system on April 15, 1996. This paper examines the impact of decimalization on the competition for order flows between Canadian and U.S. exchanges by analyzing TSE stocks cross-listed on U.S. exchanges. We find that...

Using comprehensive quarterly data on hedge fund stock holdings, we study the role of hedge funds in the process of stock price formation. We find that hedge funds tend to hold undervalued stocks, and that both hedge fund ownership and their trades are positively related to the degree of stock...

We study the relation between hedge fund equity holdings and measures of informational efficiency of stock prices derived from intraday transactions, as well as daily data. Our findings support the role of hedge funds as arbitrageurs who reduce mispricing in the market. Hedge funds invest in...