IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/glofin/v67y2025ics1044028325000870.html

The power of attention: examining the roles of institutional investor and macroeconomic news attention in shaping share liquidity

Author

Listed:
  • Garcia, John

Abstract

This study examines the joint influence of institutional investor attention and macroeconomic news attention on firm-level share liquidity, revealing distinct effects across heterogeneous market segments. Analyzing 1.23 million firm-day observations from 2468 U.S. firms (2015–2020), I combine Bloomberg terminal readership data—a proxy for institutional investor attention—with a novel macroeconomic attention index derived from a principal-component analysis of coverage in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. The results reveal significant heterogeneity: institutional investor attention reduces liquidity in information-opaque settings, widening spreads for low-institutional ownership and small-cap firms, while modestly improving liquidity for transparent large-cap firms, where attention serves to validate rather than signal private information. Macroeconomic news attention itself widens spreads while simultaneously dampens the effect of institutional investor attention, consistent with a cognitive substitution channel. These effects intensify during market downturns, highlighting the fragility of liquidity when attention is scarce. Propensity score matching, difference-in-differences tests, and alternative liquidity measures confirm the results. The findings provide a unified framework that reconciles previous evidence and offers actionable insights for traders' execution timing, market makers' spread calibration, and regulators' detection of liquidity fragility during periods of macroeconomic stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Garcia, John, 2025. "The power of attention: examining the roles of institutional investor and macroeconomic news attention in shaping share liquidity," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:67:y:2025:i:c:s1044028325000870
    DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2025.101160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1044028325000870
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.gfj.2025.101160?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. Peng, Lin & Xiong, Wei, 2006. "Investor attention, overconfidence and category learning," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 563-602, June.
    2. Shuming Liu, 2015. "Investor Sentiment and Stock Market Liquidity," Journal of Behavioral Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 51-67, January.
    3. Imane El Ouadghiri & Elias Erragragui & Jamil Jaballah & Jonathan Peillex, 2022. "Institutional investor attention and stock market volatility and liquidity: international evidence," Post-Print hal-03821680, HAL.
    4. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 1999. "A Unified Theory of Underreaction, Momentum Trading, and Overreaction in Asset Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2143-2184, December.
    5. Hirshleifer, David & Sheng, Jinfei, 2022. "Macro news and micro news: Complements or substitutes?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 1006-1024.
    6. X. Frank Zhang, 2006. "Information Uncertainty and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 105-137, February.
    7. Glosten, Lawrence R. & Harris, Lawrence E., 1988. "Estimating the components of the bid/ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 123-142, May.
    8. Tarun Chordia & Richard Roll & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2001. "Market Liquidity and Trading Activity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 501-530, April.
    9. Chordia, Tarun & Roll, Richard & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2005. "Evidence on the speed of convergence to market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 271-292, May.
    10. Whitney K. Newey & Kenneth D. West, 1994. "Automatic Lag Selection in Covariance Matrix Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(4), pages 631-653.
    11. Vayanos, Dimitri, 2004. "Flight to quality, flight to liquidity, and the pricing of risk," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 456, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. Kingsley Y. L. Fong & Craig W. Holden & Charles A. Trzcinka, 2017. "What Are the Best Liquidity Proxies for Global Research?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(4), pages 1355-1401.
    14. Adlai Fisher & Charles Martineau & Jinfei Sheng, 2022. "Macroeconomic Attention and Announcement Risk Premia," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(11), pages 5057-5093.
    15. Easley, David & O'Hara, Maureen, 1987. "Price, trade size, and information in securities markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 69-90, September.
    16. Azi Ben-Rephael & Zhi Da & Ryan D. Israelsen, 2017. "It Depends on Where You Search: Institutional Investor Attention and Underreaction to News," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(9), pages 3009-3047.
    17. Chordia, Tarun & Roll, Richard & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2000. "Commonality in liquidity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 3-28, April.
    18. Doron Israeli & Ron Kasznik & Suhas A. Sridharan, 2022. "Unexpected distractions and investor attention to corporate announcements," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 477-518, June.
    19. Imane El Ouadghiri & Elias Erragragui & Jamil Jaballah & Jonathan Peillex, 2022. "Institutional investor attention and stock market volatility and liquidity: international evidence," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-03821680, HAL.
    20. repec:eme:mfppss:mf-06-2019-0265 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Liu, Hongqi & Peng, Lin & Tang, Yi, 2023. "Retail Attention, Institutional Attention," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 1005-1038, May.
    22. Chung, Kee H. & Chuwonganant, Chairat, 2014. "Uncertainty, market structure, and liquidity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(3), pages 476-499.
    23. Zhi Da & Joseph Engelberg & Pengjie Gao, 2011. "In Search of Attention," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1461-1499, October.
    24. Ricardo J. Caballero & Arvind Krishnamurthy, 2008. "Collective Risk Management in a Flight to Quality Episode," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2195-2230, October.
    25. Stefano Dellavigna & Joshua M. Pollet, 2009. "Investor Inattention and Friday Earnings Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 709-749, April.
    26. Bushee, BJ & Noe, CF, 2000. "Corporate disclosure practices, institutional investors, and stock return volatility," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38, pages 171-202.
    27. Vlastakis, Nikolaos & Markellos, Raphael N., 2012. "Information demand and stock market volatility," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1808-1821.
    28. Guillermo Llorente & Roni Michaely & Gideon Saar & Jiang Wang, 2002. "Dynamic Volume-Return Relation of Individual Stocks," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(4), pages 1005-1047.
    29. Sims, Christopher A., 2003. "Implications of rational inattention," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 665-690, April.
    30. Glosten, Lawrence R. & Milgrom, Paul R., 1985. "Bid, ask and transaction prices in a specialist market with heterogeneously informed traders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 71-100, March.
    31. Itzhak Ben-David & Francesco Franzoni & Rabih Moussawi & John Sedunov, 2021. "The Granular Nature of Large Institutional Investors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 6629-6659, November.
    32. Kyle, Albert S, 1985. "Continuous Auctions and Insider Trading," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(6), pages 1315-1335, November.
    33. Edith S. Hotchkiss & Deon Strickland, 2003. "Does Shareholder Composition Matter? Evidence from the Market Reaction to Corporate Earnings Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1469-1498, August.
    34. Grossman, Sanford J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1980. "On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 393-408, June.
    35. Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2003. "Limited attention, information disclosure, and financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 337-386, December.
    36. Ding, Rong & Hou, Wenxuan, 2015. "Retail investor attention and stock liquidity," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 12-26.
    37. Bhushan, Ravi, 1989. "Firm characteristics and analyst following," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2-3), pages 255-274, July.
    38. 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.
    39. Peng-Chia Chiu & Ben Lourie & Alexander Nekrasov & Siew Hong Teoh, 2021. "Cater to Thy Client: Analyst Responsiveness to Institutional Investor Attention," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7455-7471, December.
    40. repec:oup:rfinst:v:21:y:2017:i:4:p:1355-1401. is not listed on IDEAS
    41. David Hirshleifer & Sonya Seongyeon Lim & Siew Hong Teoh, 2009. "Driven to Distraction: Extraneous Events and Underreaction to Earnings News," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2289-2325, October.
    42. Imane El Ouadghiri & Elias Erragragui & Jamil Jaballah & Jonathan Peillex, 2022. "Institutional investor attention and stock market volatility and liquidity: international evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(42), pages 4839-4854, September.
    43. Scotti, Chiara, 2016. "Surprise and uncertainty indexes: Real-time aggregation of real-activity macro-surprises," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1-19.
    44. Jiang, Hao & Ma, Yong & Wang, Tianyang, 2025. "Too many irons in the fire: The impact of limited institutional attention on market microstructure and efficiency," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    45. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    46. Paul C. Tetlock, 2010. "Does Public Financial News Resolve Asymmetric Information?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(9), pages 3520-3557.
    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. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    2. Zhi Da & Jian Hua & Tim Chih-Ching Hung & Lin Peng, 2025. "Market Returns and a Tale of Two Types of Attention," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 71(12), pages 10505-10537, December.
    3. Vozlyublennaia, Nadia, 2014. "Investor attention, index performance, and return predictability," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 17-35.
    4. Goodell, John W. & Kumar, Satish & Li, Xiao & Pattnaik, Debidutta & Sharma, Anuj, 2022. "Foundations and research clusters in investor attention: Evidence from bibliometric and topic modelling analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 511-529.
    5. Marmora, Paul, 2025. "The causal effect of limited attention to FOMC announcements," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    6. Zhang, Zhi-Yu & Xie, Chi & Wang, Gang-Jin & Zhu, You & Li, Xiao-Xin, 2025. "From noise to signals: Investor attention as a catalyst for the momentum effect in the Chinese stock market," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    7. Vayanos, Dimitri & Wang, Jiang, 2013. "Market Liquidity—Theory and Empirical Evidence ," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1289-1361, Elsevier.
    8. Haghighi, Afshin & Zhang, Lei & Oliver, Barry & Faff, Robert, 2023. "Information acquisition and market liquidity: Evidence from EDGAR search activity," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    9. Duan, Xinrui & Guo, Li & Li, Frank Weikai & Tu, Jun, 2025. "Do factor models capture both sentiment and limited attention?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    10. 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.
    11. Wang, Hailong & Hu, Duni, 2025. "Heterogeneous beliefs with information processing constraints and asset pricing in presence of non-tradable goods," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. repec:rim:rimwps:18-13 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Jiang, Hao & Ma, Yong & Wang, Tianyang, 2025. "Too many irons in the fire: The impact of limited institutional attention on market microstructure and efficiency," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Aouadi, Amal & Arouri, Mohamed & Roubaud, David, 2018. "Information demand and stock market liquidity: International evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 194-202.
    15. Ramos, Sofia B. & Latoeiro, Pedro & Veiga, Helena, 2020. "Limited attention, salience of information and stock market activity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 92-108.
    16. Chen, Shaoling & Wu, Jun & Liang, Weijuan & Yang, Haisheng, 2025. "News shock, limited institutional attention and stock market response: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    17. Joel Peress & Daniel Schmidt, 2020. "Glued to the TV: Distracted Noise Traders and Stock Market Liquidity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(2), pages 1083-1133, April.
    18. Ahmad, Fawad & Oriani, Raffaele, 2022. "Investor attention, information acquisition, and value premium: A mispricing perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    19. Doron Israeli & Ron Kasznik & Suhas A. Sridharan, 2022. "Unexpected distractions and investor attention to corporate announcements," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 477-518, June.
    20. Chakrabarty, Bidisha & Moulton, Pamela C., 2012. "Earnings announcements and attention constraints: The role of market design," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 612-634.
    21. Zhibing Li & Jie Liu & Xiaoyu Liu & Chonglin Wu, 2024. "Investor attention and stock price efficiency: Evidence from quasi‐natural experiments in China," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 175-225, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

    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:glofin:v:67:y:2025:i:c:s1044028325000870. 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/inca/620162 .

    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.