Time Lags in Processing Market-Sensitive Information: A Case Study

Abstract

The paper analyses a case study of time lag in processing market-sensitive information with intraday data. On February 2011, the Italian Parliament approved the so called Milleproroghe decree issued by the Government which included, among others, a new important rule for banks transforming the deferred tax assets into tax credits. Although information on the approval of the law had been available since February 8, on February 15 the market took twelve minutes to react to the news and almost an hour to fully absorb it. This delay created significant arbitrage opportunities that can be explained with traders’ inability to process immediately technical and complex matters. Failure to comply with these cognitive limitations prevents traders from incorporating promptly new information in market prices.

Keywords: financial trading, arbitrage, information processing, cognitive limitations

JEL Classification: F36, G14, G15