We assess the abilities and the role of buy-side analysts within mutual fund families by analyzing mutual funds managed by buy-side analysts from fourteen fund families. Buy-side analysts exhibit investment abilities by realizing positive style- and risk-adjusted returns. Analysts' skills have a...

This study shows how the investor sentiment in the stock market affects prices of commodity exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The study provides quantitative evidence that the tracking errors of commodity ETFs differ in the bullish versus the bearish stock market, and the aggregate tracking error of...

Utilizing monthly aggregate flow data for U.S. equity mutual funds over 1986-2008, we document several new findings on investor behavior. First, we find a strong negative relationship between changes in expected market volatility as measured by the VIX index and net equity fund flows. Second, we...

Fund flows become less sensitive to high performance after 2000, thereby decreasing convexity of the flow-performance relationship. I present novel evidence on the effects of aggregate performance on convexity of the flow-performance relationship. Flows to high-performing funds decrease when the...

In this paper we investigate whether herding by actively managed equity funds affects their performances and flows over the 1980-2013 period. We show that during the herding quarter, on average, funds that trade with the herd benefit from this behavior. Although this does not directly translate...

This paper provides a comprehensive examination of money flows in corporate bond funds which, though less researched, represent an important setting to study investor behavior. Based on a large sample of corporate bond funds over 1991–2014, we first show that flows are sensitive to both fund...

This study examines whether mutual funds herd in industries and the extent to which such herding impacts industry valuations. Using two herding measures proposed by Lakonishok et al. (1992) and Sias (2004) we document that mutual funds herd in industries. We show that industry herding is not...

We find that mutual fund investors are more likely to both purchase and redeem funds with high idiosyncratic volatility (IV). Investors' tendency to purchase high IV funds is largely driven by high IV funds having more extreme returns, which increases the salience of the fund. Including flexible...

We provide a solid framework in analyzing of what drives mutual fund performance in Chinese mutual fund industry, and show that fund performance is determined not only by efforts of fund manager, but also by fund investor behavior. Our empirical evidence shows that the total purchase and...

I show that the shape of flow–performance relationship among open-end funds varies with investor sentiment. This link is stronger when the market tone is optimistic. Cross-sectional comparison reveals that the convexity of the relationship is more pronounced among funds of the type that...