IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v84y2025ics1544612325009985.html

Tell less, get more? News topic concentration and stock market reaction

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Rui
  • Wu, Chongfeng

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of news topic concentration (TCR) on Chinese stocks. Our empirical findings reveal a U-shaped relationship between TCR and market reaction, which is mediated by investor attention. Information ambiguity complements attention’s role at low TCR. Moreover, TCR has a greater effect on stock prices when firms have lower institutional ownership, higher information uncertainty, and when the news originates from state-controlled media. Additionally, we observe that the U-shaped patterns differ across dominant meta-themes. Our results highlight the importance of the structure of the information present in its integration into asset prices and emphasize the role of journalists as key information intermediaries.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Rui & Wu, Chongfeng, 2025. "Tell less, get more? News topic concentration and stock market reaction," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:84:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325009985
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.107740
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325009985
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.107740?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atilgan, Yigit & Bali, Turan G. & Demirtas, K. Ozgur & Gunaydin, A. Doruk, 2020. "Left-tail momentum: Underreaction to bad news, costly arbitrage and equity returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(3), pages 725-753.
    2. Anastassia Fedyk, 2024. "Front‐Page News: The Effect of News Positioning on Financial Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(1), pages 5-33, February.
    3. Anand, Abhinav & Basu, Sankarshan & Pathak, Jalaj & Thampy, Ashok, 2021. "The impact of sentiment on emerging stock markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 161-177.
    4. Larry G. Epstein & Martin Schneider, 2008. "Ambiguity, Information Quality, and Asset Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(1), pages 197-228, February.
    5. Wu, Chunying & Xiong, Xiong & Gao, Ya, 2022. "The role of different information sources in information spread: Evidence from three media channels in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 327-341.
    6. Jeon, Yoontae & McCurdy, Thomas H. & Zhao, Xiaofei, 2022. "News as sources of jumps in stock returns: Evidence from 21 million news articles for 9000 companies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 1-17.
    7. Ma, Junjun & Xiong, Xiong & Feng, Xu, 2021. "News release and the role of different types of investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    8. Zhao, Jingmei & Gan, Qinyu, 2024. "The more the merrier? The impact of information overload on stock price synchronicity: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    9. Chia-Chun Hsieh & Kai Wai Hui & Yao Zhang, 2016. "Analyst Report Readability and Stock Returns," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1-2), pages 98-130, January.
    10. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2008. "All That Glitters: The Effect of Attention and News on the Buying Behavior of Individual and Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 785-818, April.
    11. Ding, Rong & Zhou, Hang & Li, Yifan, 2020. "Social media, financial reporting opacity, and return comovement: Evidence from Seeking Alpha," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    12. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    13. David Hirshleifer & Sonya S. Lim & Siew Hong Teoh, 2011. "Limited Investor Attention and Stock Market Misreactions to Accounting Information," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 1(1), pages 35-73.
    14. Andrei, Daniel & Friedman, Henry & Ozel, N. Bugra, 2023. "Economic uncertainty and investor attention," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(2), pages 179-217.
    15. Lee, Chi-Chuan & Song, Hepeng & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2023. "Assessing the effect of green finance on energy inequality in China via household-level analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    16. Kim, E. Han & Lu, Yao, 2011. "CEO ownership, external governance, and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 272-292.
    17. Titman, Sheridan & Wei, Chishen & Zhao, Bin, 2022. "Corporate actions and the manipulation of retail investors in China: An analysis of stock splits," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 762-787.
    18. An, Zhe & Chen, Chen & Naiker, Vic & Wang, Jun, 2020. "Does media coverage deter firms from withholding bad news? Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Löffler, Gunter & Norden, Lars & Rieber, Alexander, 2021. "Negative news and the stock market impact of tone in rating reports," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    20. Jacob Boudoukh & Ronen Feldman & Shimon Kogan & Matthew Richardson, 2019. "Information, Trading, and Volatility: Evidence from Firm-Specific News," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 992-1033.
    21. Cheema, Arbab K. & Eshraghi, Arman & Wang, Qingwei, 2023. "Macroeconomic news and price synchronicity," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 390-412.
    22. Dzielinski, Michal, 2012. "Measuring economic uncertainty and its impact on the stock market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 167-175.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huang, Rui & Chen, Xing & Wu, Chongfeng, 2025. "The textual similarity of news content and stock return synchronicity," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Hong, Eunpyo & Kottimukkalur, Badrinath & Noh, Joonki, 2026. "Uncertain Text and Price Reactions to Earnings Releases," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    3. Li, Zhibing & Liu, Jia & Liu, Jie & Liu, Xiaoyu & Wu, Chonglin, 2025. "Investor attention and stock price manipulation: Evidence from daily quasi-natural experiments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    4. Duan, Jiaxin & Kou, Fangyuan & Wang, Zining & Wei, Yixin, 2024. "When echoes surpass voices: Market reaction to forwarded news," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    5. Khasawneh, Maher & McMillan, David G. & Kambouroudis, Dimos, 2024. "Left-tail risk and UK stock return predictability: Underreaction, overreaction, and arbitrage difficulties," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    6. Jiaxin Duan & Lei Lu & Yixin Wei & Fangyi Yin, 2025. "The leaders' shadow: Excessive information spillover in the Chinese stock market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(3), pages 2454-2486, September.
    7. Chen, Cathy Yi-Hsuan & Fengler, Matthias R. & Härdle, Wolfgang Karl & Liu, Yanchu, 2022. "Media-expressed tone, option characteristics, and stock return predictability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    8. Ma, Yao & Yang, Baochen & Su, Yunpeng, 2021. "Stock return predictability: Evidence from moving averages of trading volume," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. DeLisle, R. Jared & Ferguson, Michael F. & Kassa, Haimanot & Zaynutdinova, Gulnara R., 2021. "Hazard stocks and expected returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    10. Meng, Yongqiang & Li, Xiao & Xiong, Xiong, 2024. "Information shocks and short-term market overreaction: The role of investor attention," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    11. Kou, Yi & Ye, Qiang & Zhao, Feng & Wang, Xiaolin, 2018. "Effects of investor attention on commodity futures markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 190-195.
    12. Szczygielski, Jan Jakub & Charteris, Ailie & Bwanya, Princess Rutendo & Brzeszczyński, Janusz, 2024. "Google search trends and stock markets: Sentiment, attention or uncertainty?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Chen, Bei & Gan, Quan & Vasquez, Aurelio, 2023. "Anticipating jumps: Decomposition of straddle price," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    14. Lin, Mei-Chen & Wu, Chu-Hua & Chiang, Ming-Ti, 2014. "Investor attention and information diffusion from analyst coverage," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 235-246.
    15. Wright, Calvin & Swidler, Steve, 2023. "Abnormal trading volume, news and market efficiency: Evidence from the Jamaica Stock Exchange," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Ge, Xiaowen & Xue, Minggao & Cao, Ruiyi, 2024. "Do Chinese carbon-intensive stocks overreact to climate transition risk? Evidence from the COP26 news," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Liu, Jie & Zhang, Jingru & Chen, Zhenshan, 2025. "The effect of stock market manipulation on investor behavioral bias," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    18. Lin, Lei & Tan, Jing, 2025. "Monetary policy uncertainty and ambiguity premium from news," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    19. David Hirshleife, 2015. "Behavioral Finance," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 133-159, December.
    20. Roger K. Loh, 2010. "Investor Inattention and the Underreaction to Stock Recommendations," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 1223-1252, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    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:eee:finlet:v:84:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325009985. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.