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What Drives Stocks during the Corona-Crash? News Attention vs. Rational Expectation

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  • Nils Engelhardt

    (Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dortmund University, Chair of Finance, Otto-Hahn-Str. 6, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Miguel Krause

    (Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dortmund University, Chair of Finance, Otto-Hahn-Str. 6, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Daniel Neukirchen

    (Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dortmund University, Chair of Finance, Otto-Hahn-Str. 6, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Peter Posch

    (Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dortmund University, Chair of Finance, Otto-Hahn-Str. 6, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

We explore if the corona-crash 2020 was driven by news attention or rational expectations about the pandemic’s economic impact. Using a sample of 64 national stock markets covering 94% of the world’s GDP, we find the stock markets’ decline to be mainly associated with higher news attention and less with rational expectation. We estimate the economic cost from the news hype to amount to USD 3.5 trillion for the US and USD 200 billion on average for the rest of the G8 countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Nils Engelhardt & Miguel Krause & Daniel Neukirchen & Peter Posch, 2020. "What Drives Stocks during the Corona-Crash? News Attention vs. Rational Expectation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-12, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5014-:d:373601
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    Cited by:

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    2. Baris Kocaarslan & Ugur Soytas, 2021. "The Asymmetric Impact of Funding Liquidity Risk on the Volatility of Stock Portfolios during the COVID-19 Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-12, February.
    3. Srilakshminarayana G, 2021. "Tail Behaviour of the Nifty-50 Stocks during Crises Periods," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 25(4), pages 115-151, December.
    4. Al-Maadid, Alanoud & Alhazbi, Saleh & Al-Thelaya, Khaled, 2022. "Using machine learning to analyze the impact of coronavirus pandemic news on the stock markets in GCC countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Engelhardt, Nils & Krause, Miguel & Neukirchen, Daniel & Posch, Peter N., 2021. "Trust and stock market volatility during the COVID-19 crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    6. Nils Engelhardt & Jens Ekkenga & Peter Posch, 2021. "ESG Ratings and Stock Performance during the COVID-19 Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-15, June.
    7. Neukirchen, Daniel & Engelhardt, Nils & Krause, Miguel & Posch, Peter N., 2022. "Firm efficiency and stock returns during the COVID-19 crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    8. Amina Malik & Babar Zaheer Butt & Haroon Aziz, 2022. "COVID-19 Entwined the Dynamic Relationship between Stock Returns and Macroeconomic Variables," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 13(4), pages 11-22.
    9. Katarzyna Czech & Michał Wielechowski & Pavel Kotyza & Irena Benešová & Adriana Laputková, 2020. "Shaking Stability: COVID-19 Impact on the Visegrad Group Countries’ Financial Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-19, August.
    10. Neukirchen, Daniel & Engelhardt, Nils & Krause, Miguel & Posch, Peter N., 2023. "The value of (private) investor relations during the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    11. Christian Beer & Janine Maniora & Christiane Pott, 2023. "COVID-19 pandemic and capital markets: the role of government responses," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 11-57, January.
    12. Helen Chiappini & Gianfranco Vento & Leonardo De Palma, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Sustainable Indexes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
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    14. Calabrò, Andrea & Frank, Hermann & Minichilli, Alessandro & Suess-Reyes, Julia, 2021. "Business families in times of crises: The backbone of family firm resilience and continuity," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2).

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