IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v77y2025ipbs0275531925002466.html

Forecasting equity risk premium: The role of investor concern on oil price volatility

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Dakai

Abstract

We explore the impact of investor concern to oil price volatility on Chinese equity risk premium by constructing an investor oil price volatility concern index (IOPVC) using Baidu Index. Our analysis demonstrates that IOPVC is a strong predictor of equity risk premium, with a negative correlation to future returns. Robustness checks, including the use of different data sources, various prediction windows, and differing levels of risk aversion, confirm that the relationship between IOPVC and equity risk premium is reliable. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that IOPVC is a leading indicator of forthcoming economic scenarios and exerts a significant influence on investor risk aversion.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Dakai, 2025. "Forecasting equity risk premium: The role of investor concern on oil price volatility," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:77:y:2025:i:pb:s0275531925002466
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.102990
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531925002466
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.102990?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. Cunado, J. & Perez de Gracia, F., 2005. "Oil prices, economic activity and inflation: evidence for some Asian countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 65-83, February.
    2. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2006. "Investor Sentiment and the Cross‐Section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1645-1680, August.
    3. Zhi Da & Joseph Engelberg & Pengjie Gao, 2015. "Editor's Choice The Sum of All FEARS Investor Sentiment and Asset Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(1), pages 1-32.
    4. Newey, Whitney K & West, Kenneth D, 1987. "Hypothesis Testing with Efficient Method of Moments Estimation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 28(3), pages 777-787, October.
    5. Deeney, Peter & Cummins, Mark & Dowling, Michael & Bermingham, Adam, 2015. "Sentiment in oil markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 179-185.
    6. Tao Bing & Yian Cui & Lei Xie, 2021. "The Dynamic Effect of Public Information on Liquidity: From the Perspective of Limited Attention," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2021, pages 1-9, June.
    7. Chauvet, Marcelle & Potter, Simon, 2000. "Coincident and leading indicators of the stock market," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 87-111, May.
    8. Dai, Zhifeng & Zhu, Junxin & Zhang, Xinhua, 2022. "Time-frequency connectedness and cross-quantile dependence between crude oil, Chinese commodity market, stock market and investor sentiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    9. Fiszeder, Piotr & Fałdziński, Marcin & Molnár, Peter, 2023. "Attention to oil prices and its impact on the oil, gold and stock markets and their covariance," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    10. Hamilton, James D & Perez-Quiros, Gabriel, 1996. "What Do the Leading Indicators Lead?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69(1), pages 27-49, January.
    11. Vivian W. Fang & Allen H. Huang & Jonathan M. Karpoff, 2016. "Short Selling and Earnings Management: A Controlled Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1251-1294, June.
    12. Antti Klemola & Jussi Nikkinen & Jarkko Peltomäki, 2016. "Changes in Investors' Market Attention and Near-Term Stock Market Returns," Journal of Behavioral Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 18-30, January.
    13. Yen†Jung Lee, 2012. "The Effect of Quarterly Report Readability on Information Efficiency of Stock Prices," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 1137-1170, December.
    14. Ivo Welch & Amit Goyal, 2008. "A Comprehensive Look at The Empirical Performance of Equity Premium Prediction," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 1455-1508, July.
    15. Kandel, Shmuel & Stambaugh, Robert F, 1996. "On the Predictability of Stock Returns: An Asset-Allocation Perspective," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(2), pages 385-424, June.
    16. Du, Limin & Yanan, He & Wei, Chu, 2010. "The relationship between oil price shocks and China's macro-economy: An empirical analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4142-4151, August.
    17. John Y. Campbell & Samuel B. Thompson, 2008. "Predicting Excess Stock Returns Out of Sample: Can Anything Beat the Historical Average?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 1509-1531, July.
    18. Alturki, Sultan & Olson, Eric, 2022. "Oil sentiment and the U.S. inflation premium," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    19. Gao, Lin & Hitzemann, Steffen & Shaliastovich, Ivan & Xu, Lai, 2022. "Oil volatility risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 456-491.
    20. Zhi Da & Joseph Engelberg & Pengjie Gao, 2011. "In Search of Attention," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1461-1499, October.
    21. Mushtaq Hussain Khan & Junaid Ahmed & Mazhar Mughal & Imtiaz Hussain Khan, 2023. "Oil price volatility and stock returns: Evidence from three oil‐price wars," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 3162-3182, July.
    22. Martin Lettau & Sydney Ludvigson, 2001. "Consumption, Aggregate Wealth, and Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 815-849, June.
    23. Anja Lambrecht & Katja Seim & Bernd Skiera, 2007. "Does Uncertainty Matter? Consumer Behavior Under Three-Part Tariffs," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(5), pages 698-710, 09-10.
    24. Clark, Todd E. & West, Kenneth D., 2007. "Approximately normal tests for equal predictive accuracy in nested models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 291-311, May.
    25. Ekkehart Boehmer & Juan (Julie) Wu, 2013. "Short Selling and the Price Discovery Process," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 287-322.
    26. Ballinari, Daniele & Audrino, Francesco & Sigrist, Fabio, 2022. "When does attention matter? The effect of investor attention on stock market volatility around news releases," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    27. 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.
    28. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Gupta, Rangan, 2015. "Has oil price predicted stock returns for over a century?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 18-23.
    29. Lv, Xin & Lien, Donald & Yu, Chang, 2020. "Who affects who? Oil price against the stock return of oil-related companies: Evidence from the U.S. and China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 85-100.
    30. Charles, Amélie & Darné, Olivier & Kim, Jae H., 2017. "International stock return predictability: Evidence from new statistical tests," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 97-113.
    31. Christopher J. Neely & David E. Rapach & Jun Tu & Guofu Zhou, 2014. "Forecasting the Equity Risk Premium: The Role of Technical Indicators," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(7), pages 1772-1791, July.
    32. Abiad, Abdul & Qureshi, Irfan A., 2023. "The macroeconomic effects of oil price uncertainty," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    33. Liu, Dandan & Wang, Qiaoyu & Yan, Karen Xueqing, 2022. "Oil supply news shock and Chinese economy," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    34. Li Pan & Ya Tang & Jianguo Xu, 2016. "Speculative Trading and Stock Returns," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 20(5), pages 1835-1865.
    35. Cao, Charles & Simin, Timothy & Xiao, Han, 2020. "Predicting the equity premium with the implied volatility spread," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    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. Ma, Feng & Wang, Ruoxin & Lu, Xinjie & Wahab, M.I.M., 2021. "A comprehensive look at stock return predictability by oil prices using economic constraint approaches," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Jiang, Fuwei & Lee, Joshua & Martin, Xiumin & Zhou, Guofu, 2019. "Manager sentiment and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 126-149.
    3. Ma, Feng & Liu, Jing & Wahab, M.I.M. & Zhang, Yaojie, 2018. "Forecasting the aggregate oil price volatility in a data-rich environment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 320-332.
    4. Jonathan A. Batten & Harald Kinateder & Niklas Wagner, 2022. "Beating the Average: Equity Premium Variations, Uncertainty, and Liquidity," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 58(3), pages 567-588, September.
    5. Papapostolou, Nikos C. & Pouliasis, Panos K. & Nomikos, Nikos K. & Kyriakou, Ioannis, 2016. "Shipping investor sentiment and international stock return predictability," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 81-94.
    6. Yu, Deshui & Tang, Jiachen & Zhou, Mingtao, 2026. "Trade policy uncertainty and stock returns: A tale of two periods," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    7. Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach & Sharma, Susan Sunila & Tran, Vuong Thao, 2018. "Can economic policy uncertainty predict stock returns? Global evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 134-150.
    8. Afsaneh Bahrami & Abul Shamsuddin & Katherine Uylangco, 2018. "Out‐of‐sample stock return predictability in emerging markets," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(3), pages 727-750, September.
    9. Dai, Zhifeng & Kang, Jie & Hu, Yangli, 2021. "Efficient predictability of oil price: The role of number of IPOs and U.S. dollar index," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Zhang, Yaojie & Ma, Feng & Zhu, Bo, 2019. "Intraday momentum and stock return predictability: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 319-329.
    11. Li, Zijun & Ma, Feng & Zhang, Jixiang & Zhou, Xiaozhou, 2025. "The financial risk concern in China: A powerful predictor of stock market volatility," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Alexandridis, Antonios K. & Apergis, Iraklis & Panopoulou, Ekaterini & Voukelatos, Nikolaos, 2023. "Equity premium prediction: The role of information from the options market," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    13. 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.
    14. Pettenuzzo, Davide & Timmermann, Allan & Valkanov, Rossen, 2014. "Forecasting stock returns under economic constraints," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(3), pages 517-553.
    15. Faria, Gonçalo & Verona, Fabio, 2018. "The equity risk premium and the low frequency of the term spread," Research Discussion Papers 7/2018, Bank of Finland.
    16. Gong, Xue & Ye, Xin & Zhang, Weiguo & Zhang, Yue, 2023. "Predicting energy futures high-frequency volatility using technical indicators: The role of interaction," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    17. Yu, Deshui & Huang, Difang & Zhou, Mingtao, 2025. "Option-implied idiosyncratic skewness and expected returns: Mind the long run," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    18. Yu, Dan & Chen, Chuang & Wang, Yudong & Zhang, Yaojie, 2023. "Hedging pressure momentum and the predictability of oil futures returns," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    19. Chen, Jian & Tang, Guohao & Yao, Jiaquan & Zhou, Guofu, 2023. "Employee sentiment and stock returns," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    20. Dong, Dayong & Yue, Sishi & Cao, Jiawei, 2020. "Site visit information content and return predictability: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:riibaf:v:77:y:2025:i:pb:s0275531925002466. 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/ribaf .

    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.