The value of winning: endorsement returns in individual sports

Using the results of 1068 different golf, tennis, and track and field (in particular: running) events, this paper examines the relation between athlete performance and stock returns of firms endorsed by athletes. We find that a tournament victory is associated with significant and positive market-adjusted stock returns for the endorsed clothing brand. Regression analysis reveals that winning is associated with a more positive price reaction than finishing as runner-up. In addition, we find that returns after a victory are significantly higher for endorsed clothing brands than for equipment brands. We did not detect return differences between superstars and regular athletes, nor between frequently endorsed brands and less commonly endorsed brands

Про періодичні розв'язки системи сингулярно збурених диференціальних рівнянь з періодичними коефіцієнтами

Запропоновано алгоритм побудови періодичних розв'язків сингулярно збуреної системи диференціальних рівнянь з періодичними коефіцієнтами у некритичному випадку.Предложен алгоритм построения периодических решений сингулярно возмущенной системы дифференциальных уравнений с периодическими коэффициентами в некритическом случае.An algorithm of constructing the periodic solutions of a singularly perturbed system of differential equations with periodic coefficients in the uncritical case is proposed

Breast cancer risk genes: association analysis in more than 113,000 women

BACKGROUNDGenetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility is widely used, but for many genes, evidence of an association with breast cancer is weak, underlying risk estimates are imprecise, and reliable subtype-specific risk estimates are lacking.METHODSWe used a panel of 34 putative susceptibility genes to perform sequencing on samples from 60,466 women with breast cancer and 53,461 controls. In separate analyses for protein-truncating variants and rare missense variants in these genes, we estimated odds ratios for breast cancer overall and tumor subtypes. We evaluated missense-variant associations according to domain and classification of pathogenicity.RESULTSProtein-truncating variants in 5 genes (ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CHEK2, and PALB2) were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.0001. Protein-truncating variants in 4 other genes (BARD1, RAD51C, RAD51D, and TP53) were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.05 and a Bayesian false-discovery probability of less than 0.05. For protein-truncating variants in 19 of the remaining 25 genes, the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval of the odds ratio for breast cancer overall was less than 2.0. For protein-truncating variants in ATM and CHEK2, odds ratios were higher for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease than for ER-negative disease; for protein-truncating variants in BARD1, BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, and RAD51D, odds ratios were higher for ER-negative disease than for ER-positive disease. Rare missense variants (in aggregate) in ATM, CHEK2, and TP53 were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.001. For BRCA1, BRCA2, and TP53, missense variants (in aggregate) that would be classified as pathogenic according to standard criteria were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall, with the risk being similar to that of protein-truncating variants.CONCLUSIONSThe results of this study define the genes that are most clinically useful for inclusion on panels for the prediction of breast cancer risk, as well as provide estimates of the risks associated with protein-truncating variants, to guide genetic counseling. (Funded by European Union Horizon 2020 programs and others.)Molecular tumour pathology - and tumour geneticsMTG1 - Moleculaire genetica en pathologie van borstkanke

The relevance of security analyst opinions for investment decisions

Security analysts analyze information regarding publicly traded companies after which they publish their opinion regarding these companies’ stocks. In this dissertation the published opinions of two different types of analysts are analyzed. Technical analysts derive a recommendation to buy, hold, or sell a stock from past price and volume data. Fundamental analysts analyze firm fundamentals such as corporate earnings and growth prospects. They subsequently publish a recommendation and a target price which captures the analyst’s expectations regarding the future stock price. The extent to which the stock market responds to the announcement of analyst recommendations provides information about the degree of market efficiency. This dissertation shows that technical analyst recommendations published on both stocks and the market index in the Netherlands are strongly related to short-term historical price trends. However, on average no abnormal returns are observed after the publication of this type of recommendations. It could therefore not be established that technical analyst recommendations are relevant for investment decisions. Hence, the notion of weak-form market efficiency could not be rejected. In contrast, the stock market is not fully semi-strong efficient, as analyst opinions exhibit relevance for investment decisions: recommendations regarding South African stocks are related to future stock price performance, and target price implied returns are positively associated with realized takeover premiums in the United States (US). Furthermore, US merger bids below the average target price are more likely to be rejected. With regard to takeover bids, general determinants of cross-border takeover activity are also studied in this dissertation. It is found that especially valuation played an important role: acquirers (targets) tend to originate from countries with relatively high (low) market-to-book values

The effect of the accidental disclosure of confidential short sales positions

EU regulations mandate that short sellers disclose short positions as of 0.2% to authorities, which publicly disclose positions as of 0.5%. In January 2017, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets accidentally disclosed confidential positions. Using the entire register, we show that small positions forecast future underperformance. We use the accidental disclosure as natural experiment to analyze the effect of publishing this information. Abnormal returns are positive after the disclosure. A possible explanation is that perceived short-selling risk on disclosed positions increased, which reduced the appetite for shorting. This is consistent with a post-event drop in abnormal short sales costs

De reactie van de beurs op de publicatie van niet-openbare shortposities

In januari 2017 publiceerde de Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM) abusievelijk de niet­publieke posities van shortsellers die speculeren op koersdalingen. Normaliter worden alleen grotere posities publiekelijk bekend gemaakt. Aandelen waarin kleine shortposities zijn opgebouwd blijven achter bij het marktgemiddelde. Na bekendmaking van deze kleine shortposities stegen de aandelen waarin deze posities waren opgebouwd. Mogelijke verklaringen zijn (i) het inspelen door andere beleggers op toekomstige afwikkelingen van shortposities, (2) het daadwerkelijk afwikkelen van de gemelde shortposities, en (3) dat de gemelde posities kleiner waren dan door de markt verwacht