Optimal Market Timing

We use a fully-specified neoclassical model augmented with costly external equity as a laboratory to study the relations between stock returns and equity financing decisions. Simulations show that the model can simultaneously and in many cases quantitatively reproduce: procyclical equity issuance; the negative relation between aggregate equity share and future stock market returns; long-term underperformance following equity issuance and the positive relation of its magnitude with the volume of issuance; the mean-reverting behavior in the operating performance of issuing firms; and the positive long-term stock price drift of firms distributing cash and its positive relation with book-to-market. We conclude that systematic mispricing seems unnecessary to generate the return-related evidence often interpreted as behavioral underreaction to market timing.

A REVIEW OF THE CAPITAL STRUCTURE THEORIES

In this paper the authors survey capital structure theories, from the start-up point, which is considered Modigliani and Miller’s capital structure irrelevance theorem, to recent theories, such as the pecking order and the market timing theory. For each tcapital structure, market timing, trade-off theory, leverage, debt, equity, agency costs

Pseudo Market Timing: Fact or Fiction?

The average firm going public or issuing new equity has underperformed the market in the long run. Endogeneity of the number of new issues has been proposed as a potential explanation of this long-run underperformance. Under pseudo market timing of new issues, ex post measures of average abnormal returns may be negative on average despite zero ex ante abnormal returns. We show that, under reasonable stationarity assumptions on the process generating events, traditional measures of average abnormal returns are consistent, and the pseudo market timing effect is a small sample problem. In simulations of an empirical model we demonstrate that the bias is small even in moderate sample sizes. An abnormal return measure capturing a feasible investment strategy is not biased. We argue that it is unlikely that pseudo market timing is the explanation for the long-run underperformance in equity issuances.Abnormal return measures; Endogenous events; Event studies; Initial public offerings; Long-run underperformance

Pseudo Market Timing and Predictive Regressions

A number of studies claim that aggregate managerial decision variables, such as aggregate equity issuance, have power to predict stock or bond market returns. Recent research argues that these results may be driven by an aggregate time-series version of Schultz's (2003) pseudo market timing bias. We use standard simulation techniques to estimate the size of the aggregate pseudo market timing bias for a variety of predictive regressions based on managerial decision variables. We find that the bias can explain only about one percent of the predictive power of the equity share in new issues, and that it is also much too small to overturn prior inferences about the predictive power of corporate investment plans, insider trading, dividend initiations, or the maturity of corporate debt issues.

The Economic Value of Predicting Stock Index Returns and Volatility

In this paper, we analyze the economic value of predicting stock index returns as well as volatility. On the basis of simple linear models, estimated recursively, we produce genuine out-of-sample forecasts for the return on the S&P 500 index and its volatility. Using monthly data from 1954 to 2001, we test the statistical significance of return and volatility predictability and examine the economic value of a number of alternative trading strategies. While we find strong evidence for market timing in both returns and volatility, the success of market timing and volatility timing varies considerably over the sample period. Further, it appears easier to forecast returns at times when volatility is high. For a mean-variance investor, this predictability is economically profitable, even if short sales are not allowed and transaction costs are quite large. The economic value of trading strategies that employ market timing in returns and volatility exceeds that of strategies that only employ timing in returns.performance evaluation;market timing;investments;predictability of stock returns and volatility

The Mathematics of Market Timing

Market timing is an investment technique that tries to continuously switch investment into assets forecast to have better returns. What is the likelihood of having a successful market timing strategy? With an emphasis on modeling simplicity, I calculate the feasible set of market timing portfolios using index mutual fund data for perfectly timed (by hindsight) all or nothing quarterly switching between two asset classes, US stocks and bonds over the time period 1993--2017. The historical optimal timing path of switches is shown to be indistinguishable from a random sequence. The key result is that the probability distribution function of market timing returns is asymetric, that the highest probability outcome for market timing is a below median return. Put another way, simple math says market timing is more likely to lose than to win---even before accounting for costs. The median of the market timing return probability distribution can be directly calculated as a weighted average of the returns of the model assets with the weights given by the fraction of time each asset has a higher return than the other. For the time period of the data the median return was close to, but not identical with, the return of a static 60:40 stock:bond portfolio. These results are illustrated through Monte Carlo sampling of timing paths within the feasible set and by the observed return paths of several market timing mutual funds.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

ACTUAL FARMER MARKET TIMING

One maxim that has been circulating among farmers is that most farmers sell in the lower third of the market. This maxim is soundly rejected using data from Oklahoma elevators. In fact, roughly half of producers sell in the upper third of the market. Thus, there does not seem to be a great need for producers to hire a market advisor to do their marketing for them. But, some farmers do store longer than is optimal and they could be encouraged to sell sooner after harvest. In the short run, farmers sold after price increases and held after price decreases. Price movements in the days after a large number of sales were no different than price movements after few sales. While farmers are noise traders in the short run, it does appear that they are responding to long-run market signals. Even though there may be room for improvement, it appears that farmers are doing a good job of deciding when to sell their wheat.Marketing,

Timing of debt issues: Evidence from a panel of Tunisian and French firms

Recent literature argues that market timing becomes the factor that shapes financing policies. However, empirical studies on debt market timing still less numerous than those on equity market timing. This paper seeks to investigate the relevance of market timing considerations on debt issues using a panel of Tunisian and French listed firms. We have documented that net debt issuance is a decrease function of the market monetary rate. Moreover, our findings reveals that Tunisian firms succeed to raise their values by issuing debt when they expect that interest rates will increase. By contrast, french firms fail to reduce their overall cost of capital.capital structure, debt market timing, interest rate, market conditions, panel data

Selectivity, market timing and the morningstar star-rating system

This paper evaluates the Morningstar mutual fund ranking system. We find that indeed higher Morningstar ratings are associated with higher returns on the portfolios including respectively five-, four-, three-, two- and one-star funds only (STAR5 to STAR1). We then perform an unconditional and conditional portfolio performance evaluation. In both cases the evidence suggests that the better performance of the STAR3, STAR4 and STAR5 categories reflects superior stock selection rather than market timing abilities. Overall, the implication for the Morningstar ranking system is that this is most effective in identifying the worst-performing funds (STAR1 or STAR2) rather than the best-performing ones

Some aspects regarding the financial structure theories

In this paper the authors survey financial structure theories, from the start-up point, which is considered Modigliani and Miller’s capital structure irrelevance theorem, to recent theories, such as the pecking order and the market timing theory. For each type of model, a brief overview of the papers surveyed and their relation to each other is provided.financial structure; market timing; trade-off theory; leverage; debt; equity; agency costs;