Information Acquisition and the Pre-Announcement Drift
56 Pages Posted: 18 Nov 2021 Last revised: 30 Sep 2022
Date Written: November 13, 2021
Abstract
We present a dynamic Grossman-Stiglitz model with endogenous information acquisition to explain the pre-FOMC announcement drift. Because FOMC announcements reveal substantial information about the economy, investors’ incentives to acquire information are particularly strong days ahead of the announcements. Information acquisition partially resolves the uncertainty for uninformed traders. Under generalized risk sensitive preferences (Ai and Bansal, 2018), resolution of uncertainty is associated with realizations of risk premium, generating a pre-FOMC announcement drift. Because our theory does not rely on leakage of information, it can simultaneously explain the high average return and the low realized volatility during the pre-FOMC announcement period.
Keywords: Macroeconomic Announcement Premium, Pre-FOMC Announcement Drift, Asymmetric Information, Ambiguity.
JEL Classification: D83, D84, G11, G12, G14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation