The impact of analyst sentiment on UK stock recommendations and target prices

© 2015 Taylor & Francis. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between narrative sentiment in analysts' company reports and their recommendation and target price outputs. We study an industry-balanced sample of 275 UK quoted company sell-side analyst reports over the period 2006-2010 using a content analysis methodology to measure net sentiment for a range of themes. We then model analysts' outputs against themed sentiment scores to analyse the impact of the Global Financial Crisis. We find that themed sentiments impact upon analysts' outputs, but their magnitude and direction vary over the pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis periods. In particular, before the crisis we find a strong negative relationship between the macroeconomic and regulatory environment and report outputs, though this effect diminishes somewhat with the onset of the crisis, to be restored thereafter. Growth sentiment exerts a weak positive impact before the crisis which disappears thereafter. Financial performance sentiment becomes a significant positive driver of outputs following the crisis. There is evidently a "back to basics" approach following the crisis which restores financial fundamentals to the heart of stock analysis. Our findings provide some insight into the thought processes of analysts by identifying the dynamic relation between analysts' outputs and themed sentiments

Enhanced stability of the square lattice of a classical bilayer Wigner crystal

The stability and melting transition of a single layer and a bilayer crystal consisting of charged particles interacting through a Coulomb or a screened Coulomb potential is studied using the Monte-Carlo technique. A new melting criterion is formulated which we show to be universal for bilayer as well as for single layer crystals in the case of (screened) Coulomb, Lennard--Jones and 1/r^{12} repulsive inter-particle interactions. The melting temperature for the five different lattice structures of the bilayer Wigner crystal is obtained, and a phase diagram is constructed as a function of the interlayer distance. We found the surprising result that the square lattice has a substantial larger melting temperature as compared to the other lattice structures. This is a consequence of the specific topology of the defects which are created with increasing temperature and which have a larger energy as compared to the defects in e.g. a hexagonal lattice.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Finite temperature scaling theory for the collapse of Bose-Einstein condensate

We show how to apply the scaling theory in an inhomogeneous system like harmonically trapped Bose condensate at finite temperatures. We calculate the temperature dependence of the critical number of particles by a scaling theory within the Hartree-Fock approximation and find that there is a dramatic increase in the critical number of particles as the condensation point is approached.Comment: Published online [6 pages, 3 figures

Hard-core Yukawa model for two-dimensional charge stabilized colloids

The hyper-netted chain (HNC) and Percus-Yevick (PY) approximations are used to study the phase diagram of a simple hard-core Yukawa model of charge-stabilized colloidal particles in a two-dimensional system. We calculate the static structure factor and the pair distribution function over a wide range of parameters. Using the statics correlation functions we present an estimate for the liquid-solid phase diagram for the wide range of the parameters.Comment: 7 pages, 9figure

Characterization of elastic scattering near a Feshbach resonance in rubidium 87

The s-wave scattering length for elastic collisions between 87Rb atoms in the state |f,m_f>=|1,1> is measured in the vicinity of a Feshbach resonance near 1007 G. Experimentally, the scattering length is determined from the mean-field driven expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a homogeneous magnetic field. The scattering length is measured as a function of the magnetic field and agrees with the theoretical expectation. The position and the width of the resonance are determined to be 1007.40 G and 0.20 G, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures minor revisions: added Ref.6, included error bar

GATA3-driven Th2 responses inhibit TGF-beta1-induced FOXP3 expression and the formation of regulatory T cells.

Transcription factors act in concert to induce lineage commitment towards Th1, Th2, or T regulatory (Treg) cells, and their counter-regulatory mechanisms were shown to be critical for polarization between Th1 and Th2 phenotypes. FOXP3 is an essential transcription factor for natural, thymus-derived (nTreg) and inducible Treg (iTreg) commitment; however, the mechanisms regulating its expression are as yet unknown. We describe a mechanism controlling iTreg polarization, which is overruled by the Th2 differentiation pathway. We demonstrated that interleukin 4 (IL-4) present at the time of T cell priming inhibits FOXP3. This inhibitory mechanism was also confirmed in Th2 cells and in T cells of transgenic mice overexpressing GATA-3 in T cells, which are shown to be deficient in transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-mediated FOXP3 induction. This inhibition is mediated by direct binding of GATA3 to the FOXP3 promoter, which represses its transactivation process. Therefore, this study provides a new understanding of tolerance development, controlled by a type 2 immune response. IL-4 treatment in mice reduces iTreg cell frequency, highlighting that therapeutic approaches that target IL-4 or GATA3 might provide new preventive strategies facilitating tolerance induction particularly in Th2-mediated diseases, such as allergy