The Long of It: Odds That Investor Sentiment Spuriously Predicts Anomaly Returns

15 Pages Posted: 11 Jul 2012 Last revised: 6 Nov 2014

See all articles by Robert F. Stambaugh

Robert F. Stambaugh

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Jianfeng Yu

Tsinghua University - PBC School of Finance

Yu Yuan

Shanghai Mingshi Investment Company; University of Pennsylvania - Wharton Financial Institutions Center

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: February 16, 2014

Abstract

Extremely long odds accompany the chance that spurious-regression bias accounts for investor sentiment's observed role in stock-return anomalies. We replace investor sentiment with a simulated persistent series in regressions reported by Stambaugh, Yu and Yuan (2012), who find higher long-short anomaly profits following high sentiment, due entirely to the short leg. Among 200 million simulated regressors, we find none that support those conclusions as strongly as investor sentiment. The key is consistency across anomalies. Obtaining just the predicted signs for the regression coefficients across the 11 anomalies examined in the above study occurs only once for every 43 simulated regressors.

Keywords: investor sentiment, anomalies, spurious regressors

JEL Classification: G12, G14, C18

Suggested Citation

Stambaugh, Robert F. and Yu, Jianfeng and Yuan, Yu, The Long of It: Odds That Investor Sentiment Spuriously Predicts Anomaly Returns (February 16, 2014). Journal of Financial Economics (JFE) 114, December 2014, pp 613-619. , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2103302 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2103302

Robert F. Stambaugh (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School ( email )

The Wharton School, Finance Department
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6367
United States
215-898-5734 (Phone)
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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Jianfeng Yu

Tsinghua University - PBC School of Finance ( email )

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Beijing 100083
China

Yu Yuan

Shanghai Mingshi Investment Company ( email )

488 M Yincheng Road
Shanghai
China

University of Pennsylvania - Wharton Financial Institutions Center

3733 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6374
United States

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