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Media Coverage and the Cross‐Section of Stock Returns: The Chinese Evidence
Author(s) -
Zou Liping,
Cao Kien Dinh,
Wang Yishun
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international review of finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.489
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-2443
pISSN - 1369-412X
DOI - 10.1111/irfi.12191
Subject(s) - stock (firearms) , china , business , media coverage , econometrics , financial economics , economics , political science , engineering , mechanical engineering , sociology , law , media studies
Using hand‐collected news headlines for a large sample of listed firms in China over a period of 2000–2015, we investigate the cross‐sectional relation between media coverage and stock returns. Our results document that no‐media coverage stocks earn 55 basis points a month higher than stocks that are featured in the media. This result is robust after controlling for common risk factors and is not driven by short‐run return reversals. Further analysis provides evidence to support the investor recognition hypothesis, suggesting that mass media may play an incremental role in providing a supplement to traditional channels of information dissemination. Therefore, results in this paper are of interests to both investors and regulators on drivers of stock returns.