The Market and Investors Reactions to Mariana’s and Brumadinho’s Environmental Disasters: Sentimental or Rational Decisions?

This research carried out event studies to analyze the reactions of the market and investors in Vale S.A. to the collapses of the Mariana and Brumadinho dams. It also assessed the extent to which the causes attributed to the market reactions to major disasters in previous research has helped to explain the reactions of the market and investors to the collapses of these dams. The analyses have shown that, in the case of the Fundão dam, there was a relevant reduction in the abnormal cumulative returns of common stocks and ADRs at the end of the eleven days of the collapse, despite the fact that the daily abnormal returns were not statistically significant. However, the abnormal trading volumes of these securities in the eleven days after the dam failure were generally negative and all statistically significant. In contrast, concerning the collapse of the Brumadinho dam, the abnormal returns on common stocks and ADRs were negative, relevant, and statistically significant, and, after the eleven days, the losses were considerable. The abnormal trading volumes of the securities were all positive and statistically significant, but the reactions of ADR investors were more intense than those of investors in common stocks. Examining the causal attributions made previously, there are indications that the market and investor reactions to the failures of the two dams were probably derived from the expectation that Vale and the other companies involved would incur severe losses and high contracting costs in political processes that would follow to the disasters, and from the difficulty the investors have had to assess the magnitude of these losses and costs.

Market Reaction to Dividend Announcements During Pandemic: An Event Study

This study analyses the difference in stock market reactions to dividend announcement during the pandemic. The thirty constituent stocks of Sensex, the index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is used for analysis. This allows cross-industry comparison of the market reaction. The study examines stock market reactions covering 44 days around the dividend announcement dates. The primary objective of this study is to understand whether the price adjustment linked to the dividend announcement news during the pandemic was different from the earlier years. This empirical study employs the conventional event study methodology using abnormal returns (ARs) to examine the stock market reaction to dividend announcement. The market reaction to dividend announcement was increasingly positive during the pandemic, compared to previous years. The statistical pooled t-tests showed there was a significant relationship between the pandemic and ARs. The findings also indicate that the difference in the market reaction to dividend announcement was more prominent in services stocks than that in manufacturing. Further, the results also verify the weak-form of efficiency of Indian stock exchange.

Stock Market Reactions during Different Phases of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cases of Italy and Spain

The COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic-induced lockdowns and quarantine establishments have inevitably affected individuals, businesses, and governments. At the same time, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on financial markets all over the world and caused an increased level of uncertainty; the stock markets were no exception either. Most of the studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stock markets are based either on the analysis of a relatively short period (the beginning of pandemic) or a longer period, which, in turn, is very heterogeneous in terms of both the information available on the COVID-19 virus and the measures taken to contain the virus and address the consequences of the pandemic. However, it is very important to assess the impact not only at the beginning of the pandemic but also in the subsequent periods and to compare the nature of this impact; the studies of this type are still fragmentary. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stock markets of two of the most severely affected European countries—Italy and Spain. To reach the aim of the research OLS regression models, heteroscedasticity-corrected models, GARCH (1,1) models, and VAR-based impulse response functions are employed. The results reveal that the stock market reaction to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic differs depending on the country and period analyzed: OLS regression and heteroscedasticity-corrected models have not revealed the statistically significant impact of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, while impulse response functions demonstrated the non-zero primary response of analyzed markets to the COVID-19 shock, and GARCH models (in the case of Spain) confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic increased the volatility of stock market return. This research contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive impact assessment both during the whole pre-vaccination period of the pandemic and during different stages of this period.

Reaction of Sharia Capital Market toward Political Events in Indonesia

This study aims to examine the reaction of the sharia capital market to political events in Indonesia. The political events referred to in this study are the events of the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections. The market reactions used are abnormal returns and stock trading volume. The sample in this study is stocks included in the Jakarta Islamic Index (JII) during the study period, which are 22 stocks. This study used an event study with an observation period of 21 trading days, namely 10 trading days before, one day of the day event, and 10 trading days after the 2014 & 2019 presidential and vice presidential elections. From the result, it can be seen that both tests are greater than 5%. Therefore, H0(1 and 2) are accepted.

Moving motives: How past and present strategy influence the market

We investigate the market’s reactions to serial acquirers that switch strategy. We collect data on 204 serial acquirers in four high tech industries, and use March’s explore-exploit framework, to classify these firms’ 1,415 acquisitions. We then distinguish, for example, exploration-based acquisitions, conducted after a series of exploitation-based acquisitions. Our results suggest that the market takes a portfolio perspective when reacting to an acquisition. In support of the ambidexterity literature, we show that the market responds positively to a switch from one type of strategy to another. Zooming in on the direction of the shift, we find that the market responds more positively to a switch towards exploration after exploitation, compared with the alternative. In so doing, we contribute to the literature on acquisition motives, by showing that prior announcements matter in explaining market reactions, and we contribute to the literature on ambidexterity, by showing that the market favours firms that oscillate between exploration and exploitation.

The Global Equity Market Reactions of the Oil & Gas Midstream and Marine Shipping Industries to COVID-19: An Entropy Analysis

This article quantifies the information flow between major equities in the Oil & Gas Midstream and Marine Shipping industries, on the basis of the effective transfer entropy methodology. In addition, the article provides the first analysis of the investors` fear and market expectations in these sectors, according to Rényi entropy approach. The period of study was extended over five years, to fully capture the pre/post-COVID situations. The entropy results reveal a major change in the underlying information flow pattern among equities in the Oil & Gas Midstream and Marine Shipping sectors, in the aftermath of COVID-19. According to the new (post-COVID) paradigm, the stocks in the Oil & Gas Midstream and Integrated Freight & Logistics industries have gained momentum in occupying six of the ten positions within the list of most-influencing equities in the market, in terms of information transmission. The disorder and randomness has decreased for over 89% of the studied equities, after virus outbreak. For the equities detected with high information-transmission standing, the Rényi entropy results indicate that investors more likely showed higher level of future expectations and lower level of fear regarding frequent market events, within the post-COVID timeline. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2021-02-04-07 Full Text: PDF

Consequences of Weak Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting: Foreign versus U.S. Firms

For a sample of both foreign cross-listed firms and U.S. firms that report material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (MWICFR) from 2007- 2016, we utilize event studies and multivariate techniques to examine if there are differential consequences of reporting MWICFR across the two groups. Specifically, we examine the reactions of the equity and debt markets, external auditors, and the firm’s governance. We find that after receiving an audit report with material weakness issues, foreign firms face a significantly more negative stock market reaction and decrease in credit ratings. These firms are more likely to receive a going-concern audit opinion than U.S. firms and are also significantly less likely to change their CEOs or CFOs. Additionally, we find that the strength of the home market regulatory environment mitigates the negative equity and debt market reactions for foreign firms. Lastly, we also find that the presence of foreign auditors for foreign firms alleviates audit market consequences, resulting in a lower likelihood of auditor resignations and going-concern audit opinions. This paper extends and complements the existing literature on cross-listed firms by documenting differences in the consequences for firms reporting weaknesses in ICFR and exploring the traits driving these differences.