Equity factors are not as straightforward as they may seem to be. There is an ongoing debate about their usability or expected return since they have a cyclical nature. Moreover, the modern trend of smart beta only fuels this debate. Novel research by Blitz and Hanauer examines the size factor and sheds some light on this elusive anomaly. The size seems to be weak as a stand-alone factor, but it’s far from useless. The academic paper suggests that the size factor can be an important addition to the other equity factors as it helps to unlock the full potential of the quality, value or momentum factors.

Authors: Blitz, David and Hanauer, Matthias Xaver

Title: Settling the Size Matter

The usage of alternative data is now a main-stream topic in investment management and algorithmic trading. So let’s together explore the textual analysis of 10-K & 10-Q filings and analyze how these datasets could be used as a profitable part of investment portfolios. We invite you to read this short summarization of the research. Full version can be found on the SSRN.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have become popular and important investment vehicles in the financial markets. However, that is not a shock given the numerous benefits connected with ETFs. Naturally, they have caught the interest of academics, and there is plenty of literature about strategies on ETFs. While the profits and trading strategies are probably the most important research topics for practitioners, liquidity in the financial markets is almost equally important. Concerning liquidity in the ETFs, novel research by Pham et al. shows when exactly are ETFs the most liquid. Looking on the spreads, they are the lowest at market close. Such a finding can be an essential part of an optimal trading position making, where the aim is to minimize the trading costs.

Authors: Pham, Son Duy and Marshall, Ben R. and Nguyen, Nhut (Nick) Hoang and Visaltanachoti, Nuttawat 

Title: Predicting ETF Liquidity

The presidential campaign is becoming hotter as we are moving closer to this year’s election. But we still have enough time to dig deeper into data about the past elections and prepare for autumn. Therefore, we have prepared a short video recapitulation of our paper on the pre-election drift.

Earnings announcement days are really important dates in a usual yearly corporate routine. The stock market usually reacts sharply on earnings announcement news and stocks on average earn statistically significant return excess of the market over the short window centred around the announcements. But how does the movement of stocks look before earnings announcement? The recent research paper written by Gao, Hu, and Zhang analyzes price action before and after earnings announcement and shows that a majority of the announcement month premium is realized during the pre-announcement period. Stocks with higher levels of uncertainty (stocks are sorted based on their option implied volatilities) experience larger pre-announcement returns and more uncertainty resolution during the pre-announcement period…

Authors: Gao, Chao and Hu, Grace Xing and Zhang, Xiaoyan.

Title: Uncertainty Resolution Before Earnings Announcements