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A First Look at Mutual Funds That Use Short Sales

Author

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  • Chen, Honghui
  • Desai, Hemang
  • Krishnamurthy, Srinivasan

Abstract

We provide a first look at short selling by mutual funds, a phenomenon not examined by prior research. Mutual funds that short do so frequently and in significant amounts, averaging about 16% of fund assets. These funds outperform benchmarks by 1.5% per year. An analysis of portfolio holdings shows that these funds generate abnormal performance from their short (4.1% per year) and long (1.5% per year) positions. Managers of short-selling mutual funds also exhibit superior performance in other funds they manage that do not use short sales. These findings suggest that managers of short-selling mutual funds are skilled.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Honghui & Desai, Hemang & Krishnamurthy, Srinivasan, 2013. "A First Look at Mutual Funds That Use Short Sales," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(3), pages 761-787, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jfinqa:v:48:y:2013:i:03:p:761-787_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Lukas Benz & Martin Rohleder & Janik Syryca & Marco Wilkens, 2019. "Shedding light on the exposure of mutual funds: Which investments drive mutual fund characteristics?," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(7), pages 534-551, December.
    2. Martin, Thorsten & Sonnenburg, Florian, 2015. "Managerial ownership changes and mutual fund performance," CFR Working Papers 16-03, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    3. Lee, Jaeram & Jeon, Hyunglae & Kang, Jangkoo & Lee, Changjun, 2020. "Do actively managed mutual funds exploit stock market mispricing?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    4. Richard Evans & Miguel A. Ferreira & Melissa Porras Prado, 2017. "Fund Performance and Equity Lending: Why Lend What You Can Sell?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(3), pages 1093-1121.
    5. Molestina Vivar, Luis & Wedow, Michael & Weistroffer, Christian, 2023. "Burned by leverage? Flows and fragility in bond mutual funds," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 354-380.
    6. Martin Rohleder & Dominik Schulte & Janik Syryca & Marco Wilkens, 2018. "Mutual Fund Stock†Picking Skill: New Evidence from Valuation†versus Liquidity†Motivated Trading," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(2), pages 309-347, June.
    7. A. Joseph Warburton & Michael Simkovic, 2019. "Mutual Funds that Borrow," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), pages 767-806, December.
    8. Li, Li & Huang, Shiyang & Lou, Dong & Shi, Jiahong, 2021. "Why don't most mutual funds short sell?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118854, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Sorhage, Christoph, 2014. "Outsourcing of mutual funds' non-core competencies," CFR Working Papers 14-04 [rev.], University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    10. Benjamin R. Auer & Tobias Hiller, 2021. "Cost gap, Shapley, or nucleolus allocation: Which is the best game‐theoretic remedy for the low‐risk anomaly?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 876-884, June.
    11. Rakowski, David & Shirley, Sara E. & Stark, Jeffrey R., 2017. "Tail-risk hedging, dividend chasing, and investment constraints: The use of exchange-traded notes by mutual funds," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 91-107.
    12. Martin Rohleder & Dominik Schulte & Marco Wilkens, 2017. "Management of flow risk in mutual funds," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 31-56, January.
    13. Markus Natter & Martin Rohleder & Dominik Schulte & Marco Wilkens, 2017. "Bond mutual funds and complex investments," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(6), pages 433-456, October.
    14. Dahm, Laura K. & Sorhage, Christoph, 2015. "Milk or wine: Mutual funds' (dis)economies of life," CFR Working Papers 15-05, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    15. Min Dai & Steven Kou & Shuaijie Qian & Xiangwei Wan, 2022. "Nonconcave Utility Maximization with Portfolio Bounds," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 8368-8385, November.
    16. Sorhage, Christoph, 2014. "Outsourcing of mutual funds' non-core competencies and the impact on operational outcomes: Evidence from funds' shareholder services," CFR Working Papers 14-04, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    17. Autore, Don M. & Hutton, Irena & Jiang, Danling & Outlaw, Dominque G., 2018. "Short interest as a signal to issue equity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 797-815.
    18. Sherrill, D. Eli & Shirley, Sara E. & Stark, Jeffrey R., 2017. "Actively managed mutual funds holding passive investments: What do ETF positions tell us about mutual fund ability?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 48-64.
    19. Fulkerson, Jon A. & Hong, Xin, 2021. "Investment restrictions and fund performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 317-336.
    20. Adrian W. K. Cheung & Hung Wan Kot & Eric F. Y. Lam & Harry K. M. Leung, 2020. "Toward understanding short‐selling activity: demand and supply," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 2203-2230, September.

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