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Investing Research Articles

84 Research Articles

Turn-of-the-Month Effect Persistence and Robustness

Is the Turn-of-the-Month (TOTM) effect, a concentration of relatively strong stock market returns around the turns of calendar months, persistent over time and robust to different market conditions. Does it exist for all calendar months? Does it persist throughout the U.S. political cycle? Does it work for different equity indexes? To investigate, we define TOTM… Keep Reading

Monthly Returns During Presidential and Congressional Election Years

Do hopes and fears of U.S. election outcomes, and associated political machinations, alter the “normal” seasonal variation in monthly stock market returns? To check, we compare average returns and variabilities (standard deviations of returns) by calendar month for the S&P 500 Index during years with and without quadrennial U.S. presidential elections and biennial congressional elections…. Keep Reading

Louis Navellier: Calculating the Market’s Moves

As suggested by a reader, we evaluate here the public stock market forecasts of Louis Navellier. Forecasts since the beginning of 2004 come from his weekly “Marketmail” archive. Pre-2004 forecasts (back to March 2001) come indirectly via MarketWatch columns. Louis Navellier is Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Navellier… Keep Reading

Ken Fisher Chronicles

We evaluate here the Forbes.com commentary of Ken Fisher regarding the broad U.S. stock market since the beginning of 2000. Ken Fisher is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Fisher Investments, which operates under the assumption that “supply and demand of securities are the sole determinants of securities pricing.” They believe that, to… Keep Reading

A Few Notes on Reinventing The Bazaar, A Natural History of Markets

“The variables that economists have found to be associated with increases in per capita income, to sum up, fall under two headings: investment and institutions.”

The Best Benchmarkers, Ever!

…stocks have significantly outperformed less risky asset classes in the U.S. for over 200 years. Volatility comes with the outperformance.

Variation in Long-run Stock Market Predictability

…evidence indicates that U.S. stock market returns may be significantly predictable during economic and political crises, but not during market bubbles and crashes. Investor misreaction to crises, not economic fundamentals, appear to drive stock return predictability.

Capital Gains Tax Rate and Stock Market Returns

How might the capital gains tax rate affect stock market returns? First, a relatively low (high) rate might encourage (discourage) capital investment and stimulate (depress) economic growth, thereby persistently increasing (decreasing) corporate earnings and stock market returns. Second, an increase (decrease) in the rate might immediately drive lower (higher) portfolio allocations to stocks and thereby… Keep Reading

A Few Notes on Superforecasting

Early in the first chapter of their 2015 book, Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner state: “…forecasting is not a ‘you have it or you don’t’ talent. It is a skill that can be cultivated. This book will show you how.” Based on the body of research on forecasting (with focus on Philip… Keep Reading

Emerging Stock Markets Research Stream

What are the main investment behaviors of emerging markets and component stocks? In their January 2014 paper entitled “Studies of Equity Returns in Emerging Markets: A Literature Review”, Yigit Atilgan, Ozgur Demirtas and Koray Simsek survey the stream of research on emerging markets equity return predictability and volatility. This survey covers articles in the top four finance journals (Journal of… Keep Reading