Interacting Anomalies

Abstract

An extensive literature studies interactions of stock market anomalies using double-sorted portfolios. But given hundreds of known candidate anomalies, examining selected interactions is subject to a data mining critique. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of all possible double-sorted portfolios constructed from 102 underlying anomalies. We find hundreds of statistically significant anomaly interactions, even after accounting for multiple hypothesis testing. An out-of-sample trading strategy based on double-sorted portfolios performs on par with state-of-the-art machine learning strategies, suggesting that simple combinations of characteristics can capture a similar amount of variation in expected returns.

Keywords: Stock Market Anomalies, Multiple Testing, Double-Sorted Portfolios, Cross-Section of Returns, Machine Learning

JEL Classification: G11, G12