Publications
Publications
- July 2014
- Journal of Financial Economics
Winners in the Spotlight: Media Coverage of Fund Holdings as a Driver of Flows
By: David H. Solomon, Eugene F. Soltes and Denis Sosyura
Abstract
We show that media coverage of mutual fund holdings affects how investors allocate money across funds. Controlling for fund performance, fund holdings with high past returns attract extra flows only if these stocks were recently featured in major newspapers. In contrast, holdings that were not covered in the media do not affect flows. We present evidence that media coverage tends to amplify investors' chasing of past returns rather than facilitate the processing of useful information in fund portfolios. Fund managers exploit this behavior by purchasing media-covered past winners at reporting dates, a strategy most prevalent among poorly performing funds. Our evidence suggests that media coverage can exacerbate investor biases and that it is the primary mechanism that makes window-dressing effective.
Keywords
Citation
Solomon, David H., Eugene F. Soltes, and Denis Sosyura. "Winners in the Spotlight: Media Coverage of Fund Holdings as a Driver of Flows." Journal of Financial Economics 113, no. 1 (July 2014): 53–72.
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