IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jfinqa/v57y2022i2p455-484_2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investor Attention and Stock Returns

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Jian
  • Tang, Guohao
  • Yao, Jiaquan
  • Zhou, Guofu

Abstract

We propose an investor attention index based on proxies in the literature and find that it predicts the stock market risk premium significantly, both in sample and out of sample, whereas every proxy individually has little predictive power. The index is extracted using partial least squares, but the results are similar by the scaled principal component analysis. Moreover, the index can deliver sizable economic gains for mean-variance investors in asset allocation. The predictive power of the investor attention index stems primarily from the reversal of temporary price pressure and from the stronger forecasting ability for high-variance stocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Jian & Tang, Guohao & Yao, Jiaquan & Zhou, Guofu, 2022. "Investor Attention and Stock Returns," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(2), pages 455-484, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jfinqa:v:57:y:2022:i:2:p:455-484_2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022109021000090/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiang, Fuwei & Liu, Hongkui & Tang, Guohao & Yu, Jiasheng, 2024. "Global mispricing matters," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    2. Wen, Danyan & Zhang, Zihao & Nie, Jing & Cao, Yang, 2024. "Investor attention and anomalies: Evidence from the Chinese stock market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    3. Xiong, Mengxu & Liu, Chen & Xiang, Junyi, 2024. "How financial derivatives affect energy firms' ESG," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Zhang, Jixiang & Zeng, Qing & Bouri, Elie & Gozgor, Giray, 2025. "Newly-constructed Chinese geopolitical risk index and trade stock returns," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Ju, Chunhua & Fang, Xusheng & Shen, Zhonghua, 2024. "Investor attention and corporate financialization: Evidence from internet search volume," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    6. Ma, Yong & Zhou, Mingtao & Li, Shuaibing, 2024. "Weathering market swings: Does climate risk matter for agricultural commodity price predictability?," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    7. Liu, Wenwen & Zhao, Peng & Luo, Ziyang & Tang, Miaomiao, 2024. "The dynamic impact of network attention on natural resources prices in pre-and post-Russian-Ukrainian war," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    8. Loang Ooi Kok, 2025. "From Tweets to Trades: The Dynamic Dance of Investor Sentiment, Attention, and News Sentiment in ESG Stocks," China Finance and Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 70-91.
    9. Zhou, Chengchen & Chen, Yajie & Ji, Qiang & Zhang, Dayong, 2025. "Does public attention to biodiversity matter to stock markets?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    10. He, Mengxi & Zhang, Zhikai & Zhang, Yaojie, 2024. "Forecasting crude oil prices with global ocean temperatures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    11. Lin, Jianhao & Fan, Jiacheng & Zhang, Yifan, 2025. "Information Dissemination and the Monetary Policy Uncertainty Premium: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    12. Marmora, Paul, 2023. "Identifying the Effects of Macroeconomic Attention Through Foreign Investor Distraction," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(8), pages 3644-3671, December.
    13. Ruan, Qingsong & Li, Chengyu & Lv, Dayong & Wei, Xiaokun, 2025. "Going Green: Effect of green bond issuance on corporate debt financing costs," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(PA).
    14. Gong, Xue & Xu, Weijun & Li, Xiaodan & Gong, Xue, 2024. "Presidential economic approval rating and global foreign exchange market volatility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    15. Chen, Chen & Stivers, Chris & Sun, Licheng, 2024. "Short-term momentum and reversals, turnover, and a stock’s price-to-52-week-high ratio," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jfinqa:v:57:y:2022:i:2:p:455-484_2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/jfq .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.