Overnight stock returns, intraday returns, and firm-specific investor sentiment

Abstract

In this study, we propose a new index for measuring firm-specific investor sentiment using overnight and intraday stock returns. We use actual equity data to construct the firm-level investor sentiment index and find that the new index has characteristics expected of a sentiment measure. In addition, we propose a novel sentiment-weighted trading strategy and apply it to momentum and short-term reversal strategies. We find that the sentiment-weighted trading strategy generates better performance in momentum and short-term reversal strategies. The sentiment-weighted trading strategy’s superior performance is evidence that our firm-level investor sentiment index possesses predictive powers with regard to future returns.