[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v51y2018icp291-296.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Equity market momentum: A synthesis of the literature and suggestions for future work

Author

Listed:
  • Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar
Abstract
I review the literature on equity market momentum, a seminal and intriguing finding in finance. This phenomenon is the ability of returns over the past one to four quarters to predict future returns over the same period in the cross-section of equities. I am able to document about ten different theories for momentum, and a large volume of empirical work on the topic. I find, however, that after a quarter century following the discovery of momentum by Jegadeesh and Titman (1993), we are still no closer to finding a discernible cause for this phenomenon, in spite of the extensive work on the topic. More needs to be done to develop tests that are focused not so much on testing one specific theory, but on ruling out alternative explanations.

Suggested Citation

  • Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2018. "Equity market momentum: A synthesis of the literature and suggestions for future work," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 291-296.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:51:y:2018:i:c:p:291-296
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2018.08.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X18303998
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2018.08.004?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antoniou, Constantinos & Doukas, John A. & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2013. "Cognitive Dissonance, Sentiment, and Momentum," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(1), pages 245-275, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein & Jialin Yu, 2007. "Simple Forecasts and Paradigm Shifts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1207-1242, June.
    4. Robert Novy-Marx, 2015. "How Can a Q-Theoretic Model Price Momentum?," NBER Working Papers 20985, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Israel, Ronen & Moskowitz, Tobias J., 2013. "The role of shorting, firm size, and time on market anomalies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 275-301.
    6. John A. Doukas & Phillip J. McKnight, 2005. "European Momentum Strategies, Information Diffusion, and Investor Conservatism," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 11(3), pages 313-338, June.
    7. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:6:p:1839-1885 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Chordia, Tarun & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2006. "Earnings and price momentum," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 627-656, June.
    9. Eli Beracha & Hilla Skiba, 2011. "Momentum in Residential Real Estate," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 299-320, October.
    10. Chordia, Tarun & Goyal, Amit & Nozawa, Yoshio & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar & Tong, Qing, 2017. "Are Capital Market Anomalies Common to Equity and Corporate Bond Markets? An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 1301-1342, August.
    11. Sadka, Ronnie, 2006. "Momentum and post-earnings-announcement drift anomalies: The role of liquidity risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 309-349, May.
    12. Grinblatt, Mark & Moskowitz, Tobias J., 2004. "Predicting stock price movements from past returns: the role of consistency and tax-loss selling," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 541-579, March.
    13. Gergana Jostova & Stanislava Nikolova & Alexander Philipov & Christof W. Stahel, 2013. "Momentum in Corporate Bond Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(7), pages 1649-1693.
    14. R. David Mclean & Jeffrey Pontiff, 2016. "Does Academic Research Destroy Stock Return Predictability?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(1), pages 5-32, February.
    15. Grundy, Bruce D & Martin, J Spencer, 2001. "Understanding the Nature of the Risks and the," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 29-78.
    16. Kewei Hou & Chen Xue & Lu Zhang, 2015. "Editor's Choice Digesting Anomalies: An Investment Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 650-705.
    17. Barberis, Nicholas & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1998. "A model of investor sentiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 307-343, September.
    18. Gebhardt, William R. & Hvidkjaer, Soeren & Swaminathan, Bhaskaran, 2005. "Stock and bond market interaction: Does momentum spill over?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 651-690, March.
    19. De Bondt, Werner F M & Thaler, Richard, 1985. "Does the Stock Market Overreact?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(3), pages 793-805, July.
    20. Soeren Hvidkjaer, 2006. "A Trade-Based Analysis of Momentum," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 457-491.
    21. Clifford S. Asness & Tobias J. Moskowitz & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2013. "Value and Momentum Everywhere," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 929-985, June.
    22. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1996. "Multifactor Explanations of Asset Pricing Anomalies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 55-84, March.
    23. Narasimhan Jegadeesh & Sheridan Titman, 2001. "Profitability of Momentum Strategies: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 699-720, April.
    24. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:1:p:267-284 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Moskowitz, Tobias J. & Ooi, Yao Hua & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2012. "Time series momentum," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 228-250.
    26. Chan, Louis K C & Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Lakonishok, Josef, 1996. "Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1681-1713, December.
    27. Alon Brav & J.B. Heaton, 2002. "Competing Theories of Financial Anomalies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 575-606, March.
    28. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Titman, Sheridan, 1993. "Returns to Buying Winners and Selling Losers: Implications for Stock Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(1), pages 65-91, March.
    29. Chang, Rosita P. & Ko, Kuan-Cheng & Nakano, Shinji & Ghon Rhee, S., 2018. "Residual momentum in Japan," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 283-299.
    30. Amit Goyal & Narasimhan Jegadeesh, 2018. "Cross-Sectional and Time-Series Tests of Return Predictability: What Is the Difference?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(5), pages 1784-1824.
    31. Craig W. Holden & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2002. "News Events, Information Acquisition, and Serial Correlation," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(1), pages 1-32, January.
    32. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    33. Lesmond, David A. & Schill, Michael J. & Zhou, Chunsheng, 2004. "The illusory nature of momentum profits," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 349-380, February.
    34. Zhi Da & Umit G. Gurun & Mitch Warachka, 2014. "Frog in the Pan: Continuous Information and Momentum," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(7), pages 2171-2218.
    35. Timothy C. Johnson, 2002. "Rational Momentum Effects," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 585-608, April.
    36. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan, 1990. "Evidence of Predictable Behavior of Security Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 881-898, July.
    37. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:3:p:1039-1082 is not listed on IDEAS
    38. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:3:p:1345-1365 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. Grinblatt, Mark & Han, Bing, 2005. "Prospect theory, mental accounting, and momentum," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 311-339, November.
    40. Doron Avramov & Tarun Chordia & Gergana Jostova & Alexander Philipov, 2007. "Momentum and Credit Rating," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(5), pages 2503-2520, October.
    41. Sagi, Jacob S. & Seasholes, Mark S., 2007. "Firm-specific attributes and the cross-section of momentum," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 389-434, May.
    42. John M. Griffin & Xiuqing Ji & J. Spencer Martin, 2003. "Momentum Investing and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from Pole to Pole," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2515-2547, December.
    43. Charles M.C. Lee & Bhaskaran Swaminathan, 2000. "Price Momentum and Trading Volume," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(5), pages 2017-2069, October.
    44. Jennifer Conrad & M. Deniz Yavuzm, 2017. "Momentum and Reversal: Does What Goes Up Always Come Down?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(2), pages 555-581.
    45. Chordia, Tarun & Roll, Richard & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2008. "Liquidity and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 249-268, February.
    46. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 2007. "Disagreement and the Stock Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 109-128, Spring.
    47. 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.
    48. Tarun Chordia & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2002. "Momentum, Business Cycle, and Time‐varying Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 985-1019, April.
    49. Chordia, Tarun & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar & Tong, Qing, 2014. "Have capital market anomalies attenuated in the recent era of high liquidity and trading activity?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 41-58.
    50. Barroso, Pedro & Santa-Clara, Pedro, 2015. "Momentum has its moments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 111-120.
    51. Jonathan Lewellen, 2002. "Momentum and Autocorrelation in Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 533-564, March.
    52. Brennan, Michael J. & Chordia, Tarun & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 1998. "Alternative factor specifications, security characteristics, and the cross-section of expected stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 345-373, September.
    53. Novy-Marx, Robert, 2012. "Is momentum really momentum?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(3), pages 429-453.
    54. Goyal, Amit & Wahal, Sunil, 2015. "Is Momentum an Echo?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(6), pages 1237-1267, 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. Chen, Tsung-Yu & Chou, Pin-Huang & Ko, Kuan-Cheng & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2021. "Non-parametric momentum based on ranks and signs," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 94-109.
    2. Kevin Rink, 2023. "The predictive ability of technical trading rules: an empirical analysis of developed and emerging equity markets," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 37(4), pages 403-456, December.
    3. Simarjeet Singh & Nidhi Walia, 2022. "Momentum investing: a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(1), pages 87-113, February.
    4. Ge Gao & Alex Nikolsko‐Rzhevskyy & Oleksandr Talavera, 2023. "Can central banks be heard over the sound of gunfire?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 46(S1), pages 183-203, December.
    5. Chou, Pin-Huang & Ko, Kuan-Cheng & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2023. "Comparing competing factor and characteristics models: Evidence in Japan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Yin, Libo & Wei, Ya, 2020. "Aggregate profit instability and time variations in momentum returns: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    7. Ahmed, Mohamed S. & Alhadab, Mohammad, 2020. "Momentum, asymmetric volatility and idiosyncratic risk-momentum relation: Does technology-sector matter?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 355-371.
    8. Ho, Hsiao-Wei & Hsiao, Yu-Jen & Lo, Wen-Chi & Yang, Nien-Tzu, 2023. "Momentum investing and a tale of intraday and overnight returns: Evidence from Taiwan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    9. Chou, Pin-Huang & Ko, Kuan-Cheng & Yang, Nien-Tzu, 2019. "Asset growth, style investing, and momentum," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 108-124.
    10. Luis Raúl Rodríguez-Reyes & Angel Samaniego & Mireya Pasillas, 2021. "Strategies in Retirement Fund Selection in the Mexican Retirement Market 1997-2018," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 16(TNEA), pages 1-16, Septiembr.
    11. Chen, Tsung-Yu & Chou, Pin-Huang & Hsieh, Chia-Hsun & Ghon Rhee, S., 2021. "Momentum life cycle, revisited," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    12. Kim, Junyong, 2024. "Zoom in on momentum," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    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. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, December.
    2. Simarjeet Singh & Nidhi Walia, 2022. "Momentum investing: a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(1), pages 87-113, February.
    3. Martin H. Schmidt, 2017. "Trading strategies based on past returns: evidence from Germany," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 31(2), pages 201-256, May.
    4. Hong-Yi Chen & Sheng-Syan Chen & Chin-Wen Hsin & Cheng Few Lee, 2020. "Does Revenue Momentum Drive or Ride Earnings or Price Momentum?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Cheng Few Lee & John C Lee (ed.), HANDBOOK OF FINANCIAL ECONOMETRICS, MATHEMATICS, STATISTICS, AND MACHINE LEARNING, chapter 94, pages 3263-3318, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Menkhoff, Lukas & Sarno, Lucio & Schmeling, Maik & Schrimpf, Andreas, 2012. "Currency momentum strategies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 660-684.
    6. Pätäri, Eero & Ahmed, Sheraz & Luukka, Pasi & Yeomans, Julian Scott, 2023. "Can monthly-return rank order reveal a hidden dimension of momentum? The post-cost evidence from the U.S. stock markets," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Goetzmann, William N. & Huang, Simon, 2018. "Momentum in Imperial Russia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 579-591.
    8. Garcia-Feijoo, Luis & Jensen, Gerald R. & Jensen, Tyler K., 2018. "Momentum and funding conditions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 312-329.
    9. Tobias Wiest, 2023. "Momentum: what do we know 30 years after Jegadeesh and Titman’s seminal paper?," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 37(1), pages 95-114, March.
    10. Mortal, Sandra C. & Schill, Michael J., 2018. "The role of firm investment in momentum and reversal," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 255-278.
    11. Sina Ehsani & Juhani T. Linnainmaa, 2019. "Factor Momentum and the Momentum Factor," NBER Working Papers 25551, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Wang, Jun & Wu, Yangru, 2011. "Risk adjustment and momentum sources," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1427-1435, June.
    13. Jiaqi Guo & Peng Li & Youwei Li, 2022. "What Can Explain Momentum? Evidence from Decomposition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(8), pages 6184-6218, August.
    14. Jacobs, Heiko, 2015. "What explains the dynamics of 100 anomalies?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 65-85.
    15. Gao, Ya & Guo, Bin & Xiong, Xiong, 2021. "Signed momentum in the Chinese stock market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    16. Kobana Abukari & Isaac Otchere, 2020. "Dominance of hybrid contratum strategies over momentum and contrarian strategies: half a century of evidence," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 34(4), pages 471-505, December.
    17. Jungshik Hur & Vivek Singh, 2016. "Reexamining momentum profits: Underreaction or overreaction to firm-specific information?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 261-289, February.
    18. Liu, Chenye & Wu, Ying & Zhu, Dongming, 2022. "Price overreaction to up-limit events and revised momentum strategies in the Chinese stock market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    19. Chen, Tsung-Yu & Chou, Pin-Huang & Hsieh, Chia-Hsun & Ghon Rhee, S., 2021. "Momentum life cycle, revisited," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    20. Geoffrey Booth, G. & Fung, Hung-Gay & Leung, Wai Kin, 2016. "A risk-return explanation of the momentum-reversal “anomaly”," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 68-77.

    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:eee:pacfin:v:51:y:2018:i:c:p:291-296. 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/pacfin .

    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.