IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/inteco/v161y2020icp130-138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Halloween Effect in developed stock markets: A historical perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Plastun, Alex
  • Sibande, Xolani
  • Gupta, Rangan
  • Wohar, Mark E.

Abstract

In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive investigation of the Halloween effect evolution in the US stock market over its entire history as well as in the other developed markets (UK, French, Canadian, German and Japanese). We employ various statistical techniques (average analysis, Student's t-test, ANOVA, and the Mann-Whitney test) and the trading simulation approach to analyse the evolution of the Halloween effect. The results suggest that in the US stock market and other developed markets, the Halloween effect only became detectable in the middle of the 20th century. Recently it is still present in the US stock market and most of the other developed markets, which provides opportunities to build a trading strategy which can beat the market. Therefore, it can be concluded that, in the main, the Halloween effect in the US market and other developed markets is consistent with the Adaptive Market Hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Plastun, Alex & Sibande, Xolani & Gupta, Rangan & Wohar, Mark E., 2020. "Halloween Effect in developed stock markets: A historical perspective," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 130-138.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inteco:v:161:y:2020:i:c:p:130-138
    DOI: 10.1016/j.inteco.2019.11.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2110701719301829
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.inteco.2019.11.009?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 look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cao, Melanie & Wei, Jason, 2005. "Stock market returns: A note on temperature anomaly," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1559-1573, June.
    2. Edwin Maberly & Raylene Pierce, 2003. "The Halloween Effect and Japanese Equity Prices: Myth or Exploitable Anomaly," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 10(4), pages 319-334, December.
    3. Schwert, G. William, 2003. "Anomalies and market efficiency," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 939-974, Elsevier.
    4. Mark J. Kamstra & Lisa A. Kramer & Maurice D. Levi, 2003. "Winter Blues: A SAD Stock Market Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 324-343, March.
    5. Tomasz Schabek & Henrique Castro, 2017. "“Sell not only in May”. Seasonal Effects on Stock Markets," Dynamic Econometric Models, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 17, pages 5-18.
    6. Sven Bouman & Ben Jacobsen, 2002. "The Halloween Indicator, "Sell in May and Go Away": Another Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1618-1635, December.
    7. Jensen, Michael C., 1978. "Some anomalous evidence regarding market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2-3), pages 95-101.
    8. Peter Arendas & Viera Malacka & Maria Schwarzova, 2018. "A Closer Look at the Halloween Effect: The Case of the Dow Jones Industrial Average," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-12, April.
    9. Dichtl, Hubert & Drobetz, Wolfgang, 2014. "Are stock markets really so inefficient? The case of the “Halloween Indicator”," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 112-121.
    10. Dichtl, Hubert & Drobetz, Wolfgang, 2015. "Sell in May and Go Away: Still good advice for investors?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 29-43.
    11. Kelly, Patrick J. & Meschke, Felix, 2010. "Sentiment and stock returns: The SAD anomaly revisited," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1308-1326, June.
    12. Haggard, K. Stephen & Witte, H. Douglas, 2010. "The Halloween effect: Trick or treat?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 379-387, December.
    13. Jacobsen, Ben & Marquering, Wessel, 2008. "Is it the weather?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 526-540, April.
    14. Gil-Alana, Luis A. & Cunado, Juncal & de Gracia, Fernando Perez, 2013. "Salient features of dependence in daily US stock market indices," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(15), pages 3198-3212.
    15. Ben Jacobsen & Nuttawat Visaltanachoti, 2009. "The Halloween Effect in U.S. Sectors," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 437-459, August.
    16. repec:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:29-46 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    18. Guo, Biao & Luo, Xingguo & Zhang, Ziding, 2014. "Sell in May and Go Away: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 362-368.
    19. Lucey, Brian M & Zhao, Shelly, 2008. "Halloween or January? Yet another puzzle," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 1055-1069, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Qadan, Mahmoud & Nisani, Doron & Eichel, Ron, 2022. "Irregularities in forward-looking volatility," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 489-501.
    2. Rasim Özcan & Asad ul Islam KHAN & Sundas Iftikhar, 2024. "Whether The Cr Whether The Crypto Market Is Efficient? E et Is Efficient? Evidence F vidence From Testing The Validity Of The Efficient Market Hypothesis," Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking, Bank Indonesia, vol. 27(1), pages 113-132, March.
    3. Hsu, Chih-Hsiang & Lien, Donald, 2025. "To outperform: Sell-in-May enhanced with bond investments," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    4. Kenourgios, Dimitris & Samios, Yiannis, 2021. "Halloween effect and active fund management," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 534-544.
    5. Muhammad Sarmad Irtiza & Shahbaz Khan & Nida Baig & Syed Muhammad Ali Tirmizi & Ilyas Ahmad, 2021. "The turn-of-the-month effect in Pakistani stock market," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, December.

    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. Degenhardt, Thomas & Auer, Benjamin R., 2018. "The “Sell in May” effect: A review and new empirical evidence," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 169-205.
    2. Alex Plastun & Xolani Sibande & Rangan Gupta & Mark E. Wohar, 2019. "Halloween Effect in Developed Stock Markets: A US Perspective," Working Papers 201914, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    3. Kenourgios, Dimitris & Samios, Yiannis, 2021. "Halloween effect and active fund management," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 534-544.
    4. Zhang, Cherry Y. & Jacobsen, Ben, 2021. "The Halloween indicator, “Sell in May and Go Away”: Everywhere and all the time," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    5. Dragos Stefan Oprea, 2014. "The Halloween Effect Evidence from Romania," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 4(7), pages 463-471, July.
    6. Chui, David & Wing Cheng, Wui & Chi Chow, Sheung & LI, Ya, 2020. "Eastern Halloween effect: A stochastic dominance approach," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Dichtl, Hubert & Drobetz, Wolfgang, 2015. "Sell in May and Go Away: Still good advice for investors?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 29-43.
    8. Benjamin R. Auer, 2019. "Does the strength of capital market anomalies exhibit seasonal patterns?," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 43(1), pages 91-103, January.
    9. Tomasz Schabek & Henrique Castro, 2017. "“Sell not only in May”. Seasonal Effects on Stock Markets," Dynamic Econometric Models, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 17, pages 5-18.
    10. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, January.
    11. Hubert Dichtl, 2020. "Investing in the S&P 500 index: Can anything beat the buy‐and‐hold strategy?," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 352-378, April.
    12. Zaremba, Adam & Schabek, Tomasz, 2017. "Seasonality in government bond returns and factor premia," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 292-302.
    13. Haibin Xie & Qilin Qin & Shouyang Wang, 2016. "Is Halloween Effect a New Puzzle? Evidence from Price Gap," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 6, pages 19-31, November.
    14. Wagner, Moritz & Lee, John Byong-Tek & Margaritis, Dimitris, 2022. "Mutual fund flows and seasonalities in stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    15. Beladi, Hamid & Chao, Chi Chur & Hu, May, 2016. "Another January effect—Evidence from stock split announcements," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 123-138.
    16. Muhammad Shehryar*, 2025. "The Role of Weather Anomalies in Shaping Investor Sentiment and Stock Market Performance: A Conceptual Analysis," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(3), pages 558-565, March.
    17. Laurens Swinkels & Pim van Vliet, 2012. "An anatomy of calendar effects," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(4), pages 271-286, August.
    18. Kaustia, Markku & Rantapuska, Elias, 2016. "Does mood affect trading behavior?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-26.
    19. Dichtl, Hubert & Drobetz, Wolfgang, 2014. "Are stock markets really so inefficient? The case of the “Halloween Indicator”," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 112-121.
    20. Levy, Tamir & Yagil, Joseph, 2012. "The week-of-the-year effect: Evidence from around the globe," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1963-1974.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques

    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:inteco:v:161:y:2020:i:c:p:130-138. 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.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/21107017 .

    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.