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1. If you believe in the ________ form of the EMH, you believe that stock prices reflect all relevant
information including historical stock prices and current public information about the firm, but not
A. semistrong
B. strong
C. weak
2. When Maurice Kendall examined the patterns of stock returns in 1953, he concluded that the stock
market was __________. Now, these random price movements are believed to be _________.
11-1
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3. The stock market follows a
A. nonrandom walk.
B. submartingale.
C. selects some actively managed mutual funds on their own and uses an investment advisor to
D. maintains a passive core and augments the position with an actively managed portfolio.
5. The difference between a random walk and a submartingale is the expected price change in a
random walk is ______, and the expected price change for a submartingale is ______.
A. positive; zero
B. positive; positive
C. positive; negative
D. zero; positive
E. zero; zero
11-2
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6. Proponents of the EMH typically advocate
D. buying individual stocks on margin and trading frequently and investing in hedge funds.
8. If you believe in the _______ form of the EMH, you believe that stock prices only reflect all
information that can be derived by examining market trading data such as the history of past stock
A. semistrong
B. strong
C. weak
11-3
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McGraw-Hill Education.
9. If you believe in the _________ form of the EMH, you believe that stock prices reflect all available
A. semistrong
B. strong
C. weak
A. buy bonds in this period if you held stocks in the last period.
B. buy stocks in this period if you held bonds in the last period.
D. go short.
E. buy stocks this period that performed poorly last period and go short.
11. __________ focus more on past price movements of a firm's stock than on the underlying
A. Credit analysts
B. Fundamental analysts
C. Systems analysts
D. Technical analysts
11-4
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12. _________ above which it is difficult for the market to rise.
14. ___________ the return on a stock beyond what would be predicted from market movements alone.
A. An irrational return is
B. An economic return is
C. An abnormal return is
11-5
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15. The debate over whether markets are efficient will probably never be resolved because of
D. the neglected firm effect was independent of the small firm effect.
11-6
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18. Researchers have found that most of the small firm effect occurs
C. in December.
D. in January.
E. randomly.
19. Basu (1977, 1983) found that firms with low P/E ratios
A. earned higher average returns than firms with high P/E ratios.
B. earned the same average returns as firms with high P/E ratios.
C. earned lower average returns than firms with high P/E ratios.
D. had higher dividend yields than firms with high P/E ratios.
20. Basu (1977, 1983) found that firms with high P/E ratios
A. earned higher average returns than firms with low P/E ratios.
B. earned the same average returns as firms with low P/E ratios.
C. earned lower average returns than firms with low P/E ratios.
D. had higher dividend yields than firms with low P/E ratios.
11-7
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21. Jaffe (1974) found that stock prices _________ after insiders intensively bought shares.
A. decreased
C. increased
22. Jaffe (1974) found that stock prices _________ after insiders intensively sold shares.
A. decreased
C. increased
23. Banz (1981) found that, on average, the risk-adjusted returns of small firms
E. were negative.
11-8
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24. Banz (1981) found that, on average, the risk-adjusted returns of large firms
E. were negative.
A. a positive abnormal return on the day positive earnings surprises are announced.
B. a positive drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
C. a negative drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
D. a positive abnormal return on the day positive earnings surprises are announced and a positive
drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
E. a positive abnormal return on the day positive earnings surprises are announced and a negative
drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
11-9
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27. Studies of negative earnings surprises have shown that there is
A. a negative abnormal return on the day that negative earnings surprises are announced.
B. a positive drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
C. a negative drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
D. a negative abnormal return on the day that negative earnings surprises are announced and a
positive drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
E. a negative abnormal return on the day that negative earnings surprises are announced and a
negative drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
A. reaction studies.
B. event studies.
C. drift studies.
11-10
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29. On November 22, 2012, the stock price of WalMart was $69.50 and the retailer stock index was
600.30. On November 25, 2012, the stock price of WalMart was $70.25 and the retailer stock index
was 605.20. Consider the ratio of WalMart to the retailer index on November 22 and November
25. WalMartis _______ the retail industry, and technical analysts who follow relative strength would
A. outperforming, buying
B. outperforming, selling
C. underperforming, buying
D. underperforming, selling
A. argues that investors will demand a rate of return premium to invest in less liquid stocks.
D. may help explain the small firm effect and may be related to the neglected firm effect.
11-11
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31. Fama and French (1992) found that the stocks of firms within the highest decile of book-to-market
ratios had average monthly returns of _______, while the stocks of firms within the lowest decile of
book-to-market ratios had average monthly returns of ________.
32. A market decline of 23% on a day when there is no significant macroeconomic event ______
consistent with the EMH because ________.
B. security prices are seldom far above or below their justified levels.
C. security analysis will not enable investors to realize superior returns consistently.
E. security prices react quickly to new information, security prices are seldom far above or below
their justified levels, and security analysis will not enable investors to realize superior returns
consistently.
11-12
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34. The weak form of the efficient market hypothesis asserts that
A. stock prices do not rapidly adjust to new information contained in past prices or past data.
D. stock prices do not rapidly adjust to new information contained in past prices or past data and
future changes in stock prices cannot be predicted from past prices.
E. future changes in stock prices cannot be predicted from past prices and technicians cannot
expect to outperform the market.
35. A support level is the price range at which a technical analyst would expect the
11-13
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36. A finding that _________ would provide evidence against the semistrong form of the efficient
market theory.
C. one can consistently outperform the market by adopting the contrarian approach exemplified
by the reversals phenomenon
D. low P/E stocks tend to have positive abnormal returns and trend analysis is worthless in
E. low P/E stocks tend to have positive abnormal returns and one can consistently outperform the
38. Two basic assumptions of technical analysis are that security prices adjust
A. rapidly to new information and market prices are determined by the interaction of supply and
demand.
C. gradually to new information and market prices are determined by the interaction of supply and
demand.
11-14
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39. Cumulative abnormal returns (CAR)
B. are better measures of security returns due to firm-specific events than are abnormal returns
(AR).
D. are used in event studies and are better measures of security returns due to firm-specific events
than are abnormal returns (AR).
E. are used in event studies and are cumulated over the period prior to the firm-specific event.
C. indicate that the professional management of the fund insures above market returns.
D. indicate that one should not randomly select a mutual fund and indicate that historical
E. indicate that historical performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance and
indicate that the professional management of the fund insures above market returns.
41. The likelihood of an investment newsletter's successfully predicting the direction of the market for
three consecutive years by chance should be
11-15
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42. In an efficient market the correlation coefficient between stock returns for two nonoverlapping
C. zero.
43. The weather report says that a devastating and unexpected freeze is expected to hit Florida
tonight, during the peak of the citrus harvest. In an efficient market one would expect the price of
Florida Orange's stock to
A. drop immediately.
B. remain unchanged.
C. increase immediately.
44. Matthews Corporation has a beta of 1.2. The annualized market return yesterday was 13%, and the
risk-free rate is currently 5%. You observe that Matthews had an annualized return yesterday of
17%. Assuming that markets are efficient, this suggests that
11-16
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45. Nicholas Manufacturing just announced yesterday that its fourth quarter earnings will be 10%
higher than last year's fourth quarter. Nicholas had an abnormal return of -1.2% yesterday. This
suggests that
C. investors expected the earnings increase to be larger than what was actually announced.
D. investors expected the earnings increase to be smaller than what was actually announced.
46. When Maurice Kendall first examined stock price patterns in 1953, he found that
C. stocks whose prices had increased consistently for one week tended to have a net decrease the
following week.
D. stocks whose prices had increased consistently for one week tended to have a net increase the
following week.
E. the direction of change in stock prices was unpredictable, but the amount of change followed a
distinct pattern.
11-17
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48. The main difference between the three forms of market efficiency is that
A. technical analysis.
B. fundamental analysis.
C. regression analysis.
D. insideranalysis.
E. psychoanalysis.
50. Which of the following are used by fundamental analysts to determine proper stock prices?
I) Trendlines
II) Earnings
V) Resistance levels
A. I, IV, and V
11-18
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51. Which of the following are used by technical analysts to determine proper stock prices?
I) Trendlines
II) Earnings
III) Dividend prospects
IV) Expectations of future interest rates
V) Resistance levels
A. I and V
52. According to proponents of the efficient market hypothesis, the best strategy for a small investor
with a portfolio worth $40,000 is probably to
11-19
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McGraw-Hill Education.
53. Which of the following are investment superstars who have consistently shown superior
performance?
I) Warren Buffet
II) Phoebe Buffet
III) Peter Lynch
IV) Merrill Lynch
V) Jimmy Buffet
A. I, III, and IV
C. I and III
D. III and IV
54. Google has a beta of 1.0. The annualized market return yesterday was 11%, and the risk-free rate is
currently 5%. You observe that Google had an annualized return yesterday of 14%. Assuming that
markets are efficient, this suggests that
11-20
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55. Music Doctors has a beta of 2.25. The annualized market return yesterday was 12%, and the risk-
free rate is currently 4%. You observe that Music Doctors had an annualized return yesterday of
15%. Assuming that markets are efficient, this suggests that
56. QQAG has a beta of 1.7. The annualized market return yesterday was 13%, and the risk-free rate is
currently 3%. You observe that QQAG had an annualized return yesterday of 20%. Assuming that
11-21
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57. QQAG just announced yesterday that its fourth quarter earnings will be 35% higher than last year's
fourth quarter. You observe that QQAG had an abnormal return of -1.7% yesterday. This suggests
that
C. investors expected the earnings increase to be larger than what was actually announced.
D. investors expected the earnings increase to be smaller than what was actually announced.
58. LJP Corporation just announced yesterday that it would undertake an international joint venture.
You observe that LJP had an abnormal return of 3% yesterday. This suggests that
59. Music Doctors just announced yesterday that its first quarter sales were 35% higher than last year's
first quarter. You observe that Music Doctors had an abnormal return of -2% yesterday. This
suggests that
C. investors expected the sales increase to be larger than what was actually announced.
D. investors expected the sales increase to be smaller than what was actually announced.
11-22
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60. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just announced yesterday that they would approve a
new cancer-fighting drug from King. You observe that King had an abnormal return of 0%
yesterday. This suggests that
61. Your professor finds a stock-trading rule that generates excess risk-adjusted returns. Instead of
publishing the results, she keeps the trading rule to herself. This is most closely associated with
A. regret avoidance.
B. selection bias.
C. framing.
D. insider trading.
62. At freshman orientation, 1,500 students are asked to flip a coin 20 times. One student is crowned
A. regret avoidance.
B. selection bias.
C. overconfidence.
11-23
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63. Sehun (1986) finds that the practice of monitoring insider trade disclosures, and trading on that
information, would be
B. sell stocks in this period if you held bonds in the last period.
D. go long.
E. sell stocks this period that performed well last period and go long.
65. Patell and Woflson (1984) report that most of the stock price response to corporate dividend or
A. 10 minutes
B. 45 minutes
C. 2 hours
D. 4 hours
E. 2 trading days
11-24
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66. Del Guerico and Reuter (2013) report that the average underperformance of actively managed
B. index funds.
D. brokersold funds.
67. Discuss the various forms of market efficiency. Include in your discussion the information sets
involved in each form and the relationships across information sets and across forms of market
efficiency. Also discuss the implications for the various forms of market efficiency for the various
11-25
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68. What is an event study? It is a test of what form of market efficiency? Discuss the process of
conducting an event study, including the best variable(s) to observe as tests of market efficiency.
69. Discuss the small firm effect, the neglected firm effect, and the January effect, the tax effect and
how the four effects may be related.
70. Why might the degree of market efficiency differ across various markets? State three reasons why
this might occur, and explain each reason briefly.
11-26
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71. With regard to market efficiency, what is meant by the term "anomaly"? Give three examples of
11-27
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Chapter 11 The Efficient Market Hypothesis Answer Key
1. If you believe in the ________ form of the EMH, you believe that stock prices reflect all relevant
information including historical stock prices and current public information about the firm, but
not information that is available only to insiders.
A. semistrong
B. strong
C. weak
The semistrong form of the EMH maintains that stock prices immediately reflect all historical
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
11-28
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McGraw-Hill Education.
2. When Maurice Kendall examined the patterns of stock returns in 1953, he concluded that the
stock market was __________. Now, these random price movements are believed to be _________.
Random price changes were originally thought to be driven by irrationality. Now, financial
economists believe random price changes occur because markets are informationally efficient.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
A. nonrandom walk.
B. submartingale.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
11-29
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McGraw-Hill Education.
4. A hybrid strategy is one where the investor
C. selects some actively managed mutual funds on their own and uses an investment advisor
to select other actively managed funds.
D. maintains a passive core and augments the position with an actively managed portfolio.
A hybrid strategy is one where the investor maintains a passive core and augments the position
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Implications of the EMH
5. The difference between a random walk and a submartingale is the expected price change in a
random walk is ______, and the expected price change for a submartingale is ______.
A. positive; zero
B. positive; positive
C. positive; negative
D. zero; positive
E. zero; zero
A random walk has an expected price change of zero, and a submartingale has a positive
expected price change.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
11-30
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
index fund is one of the most practical passive investment strategies, especially for small
investors.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
11-31
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McGraw-Hill Education.
7. Proponents of the EMH typically advocate
D. buying individual stocks on margin and trading frequently and investing in hedge funds.
investors.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
11-32
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McGraw-Hill Education.
8. If you believe in the _______ form of the EMH, you believe that stock prices only reflect all
information that can be derived by examining market trading data such as the history of past
stock prices, trading volume or short interest.
A. semistrong
B. strong
C. weak
The information described above is market data, which is the data set for the weak form of
market efficiency. The semistrong form includes the above plus all other public information. The
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
9. If you believe in the _________ form of the EMH, you believe that stock prices reflect all available
information, including information that is available only to insiders.
A. semistrong
B. strong
C. weak
AACSB: Analytic
11-33
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
A. buy bonds in this period if you held stocks in the last period.
B. buy stocks in this period if you held bonds in the last period.
D. go short.
E. buy stocks this period that performed poorly last period and go short.
The reversal effect states that stocks that do well in one period tend to perform poorly in the
subsequent period, and vice versa.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
11. __________ focus more on past price movements of a firm's stock than on the underlying
determinants of future profitability.
A. Credit analysts
B. Fundamental analysts
C. Systems analysts
D. Technical analysts
Technicians attempt to predict future stock prices based on historical stock prices.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
11-34
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Implications of the EMH
When stock prices have remained stable for a long period, these prices are termed resistance
levels; technicians believe it is difficult for the stock prices to penetrate these resistance levels.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Implications of the EMH
When stock prices have remained stable for a long period, these prices are termed support
levels; technicians believe it is difficult for the stock prices to penetrate these support levels.
AACSB: Analytic
11-35
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Implications of the EMH
14. ___________ the return on a stock beyond what would be predicted from market movements
alone.
A. An irrational return is
B. An economic return is
C. An abnormal return is
An economic return is the expected return based on the perceived level of risk and market
factors. When returns exceed these levels, the returns are called abnormal returns.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Event Studies
11-36
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McGraw-Hill Education.
15. The debate over whether markets are efficient will probably never be resolved because of
All of the options make rigid testing of market efficiency difficult or impossible.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Markets
The index fund is, by definition, passively managed. The other investment alternatives may or
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Implications of the EMH
11-37
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McGraw-Hill Education.
17. Arbel (1985) found that
D. the neglected firm effect was independent of the small firm effect.
Arbel divided firms into highly researched, moderately researched, and neglected groups based
on the number of institutions holding the stock.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-38
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McGraw-Hill Education.
18. Researchers have found that most of the small firm effect occurs
C. in December.
D. in January.
E. randomly.
Much of the so-called small firm effect simply may be the tax effect as investors sell stocks on
which they have losses in December and reinvest the funds in January. As small firms are
especially volatile, these actions affect small firms in a more dramatic fashion.
Technical analysts attempt to predict future stock prices from historic stock prices; proponents
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Implications of the EMH
11-39
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McGraw-Hill Education.
26. Studies of positive earnings surprises have shown that there is
A. a positive abnormal return on the day positive earnings surprises are announced.
B. apositive drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
C. a negative drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise
announcement.
D. a positive abnormal return on the day positive earnings surprises are announced and a
positive drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
E. a positive abnormal return on the day positive earnings surprises are announced and a
negative drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
The market appears to adjust to earnings information gradually, resulting in a sustained period
of abnormal returns.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-40
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McGraw-Hill Education.
27. Studies of negative earnings surprises have shown that there is
A. a negative abnormal return on the day that negative earnings surprises are announced.
B. a positive drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
C. a negative drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise
announcement.
D. a negative abnormal return on the day that negative earnings surprises are announced and
a positive drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise announcement.
E. a negative abnormal return on the day that negative earnings surprises are announced and
a negative drift in the stock price on the days following the earnings surprise
announcement.
The market appears to adjust to earnings information gradually, resulting in a sustained period
of abnormal returns.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
A. reaction studies.
B. event studies.
C. drift studies.
AACSB: Analytic
11-41
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Event Studies
29. On November 22, 2012, the stock price of WalMart was $69.50 and the retailer stock index was
600.30. On November 25, 2012, the stock price of WalMart was $70.25 and the retailer stock
index was 605.20. Consider the ratio of WalMart to the retailer index on November 22 and
November 25. WalMart is _______ the retail industry, and technical analysts who follow relative
strength would advise _______ the stock.
A. outperforming, buying
B. outperforming, selling
C. underperforming, buying
D. underperforming, selling
11/22: $69.50/600.30 = 0.1158; 11/25: $70.25/605.20 = 0.1161; Thus, WalMart's relative strength is
improving, and technicians using this technique would recommend buying.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Implications of the EMH
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-42
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\
32. A market decline of 23% on a day when there is no significant macroeconomic event ______
consistent with the EMH because ________.
This happened on October 19, 1987. Although this specific event is not mentioned in this edition
of the book, it is an example of something that would be considered a violation of the EMH.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-43
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McGraw-Hill Education.
33. In an efficient market,
C. security analysis will not enable investors to realize superior returns consistently.
E. security prices react quickly to new information, security prices are seldom far above or
below their justified levels, and security analysis will not enable investors to realize superior
returns consistently.
Security prices react quickly to new information, security prices are seldom far above or below
their justified levels, and security analysis will not enable investors to realize superior returns
consistently; however, even in an efficient market one should be able to earn the appropriate
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
11-44
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34. The weak form of the efficient market hypothesis asserts that
A. stock prices do not rapidly adjust to new information contained in past prices or past data.
D. stock prices do not rapidly adjust to new information contained in past prices or past data
and future changes in stock prices cannot be predicted from past prices.
E. future changes in stock prices cannot be predicted from past prices and technicians cannot
expect to outperform the market.
The weak form of the efficient market hypothesis asserts that future changes in stock prices
cannot be predicted from past prices; therefore, technicians cannot expect to outperform the
market.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
35. A support level is the price range at which a technical analyst would expect the
A support level is considered to be a level below that the price of the stock is unlikely to fall and
is believed to be determined by market psychology.
AACSB: Analytic
11-45
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Implications of the EMH
36. A finding that _________ would provide evidence against the semistrong form of the efficient
market theory.
C. one can consistently outperform the market by adopting the contrarian approach
D. low P/E stocks tend to have positive abnormal returns and trend analysis is worthless in
determining stock prices
E. low P/E stocks tend to have positive abnormal returns and one can consistently outperform
the market by adopting the contrarian approach exemplified by the reversals phenomenon
Both low P/E stocks tend to have positive abnormal returns and one can consistently
outperform the market by adopting the contrarian approach exemplified by the reversals
phenomenon are inconsistent with the semistrong form of the EMH.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
11-46
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McGraw-Hill Education.
37. The weak form of the efficient market hypothesis contradicts
The weak form of the efficient market hypothesis contradicts technical analysis, but is silent on
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
38. Two basic assumptions of technical analysis are that security prices adjust
A. rapidly to new information and market prices are determined by the interaction of supply
and demand.
C. gradually to new information and market prices are determined by the interaction of supply
and demand.
Technicians follow market data such as price changes and volume of trading (as indicator of
supply and demand) believing that they can identify price trends as security prices adjust
gradually.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
11-47
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Implications of the EMH
B. are better measures of security returns due to firm-specific events than are abnormal
returns (AR).
D. are used in event studies and are better measures of security returns due to firm-specific
events than are abnormal returns (AR).
E. are used in event studies and are cumulated over the period prior to the firm-specific event.
As leakage of information occurs, the accumulated abnormal returns that are abnormal returns
summed over the period of interest (around the event date) are better measures of the effect of
firm-specific events.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Event Studies
11-48
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McGraw-Hill Education.
40. Studies of mutual fund performance
C. indicate that the professional management of the fund insures above market returns.
D. indicate that one should not randomly select a mutual fund and indicate that historical
performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance.
E. indicate that historical performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance and
indicate that the professional management of the fund insures above market returns.
Studies show that, in general, funds do not outperform the market and that historical
performance is not necessarily an indicator of future performance.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Mutual Fund/Analyst Performance
41. The likelihood of an investment newsletter's successfully predicting the direction of the market
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
11-49
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Mutual Fund/Analyst Performance
42. In an efficient market the correlation coefficient between stock returns for two nonoverlapping
time periods should be
C. zero.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
11-50
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McGraw-Hill Education.
43. The weather report says that a devastating and unexpected freeze is expected to hit Florida
tonight, during the peak of the citrus harvest. In an efficient market one would expect the price
of Florida Orange's stock to
A. drop immediately.
B. remain unchanged.
C. increase immediately.
In an efficient market the price of the stock should drop immediately when the bad news is
announced. If later news changes the perceived impact to Florida Orange, the price may once
again adjust quickly to the new information. A gradual change is a violation of the EMH.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Event Studies
11-51
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McGraw-Hill Education.
44. Matthews Corporation has a beta of 1.2. The annualized market return yesterday was 13%, and
the risk-free rate is currently 5%. You observe that Matthews had an annualized return
yesterday of 17%. Assuming that markets are efficient, this suggests that
AR = 17% - (5% + 1.2 (8%)) = +2.4%. A positive abnormal return suggests that there was firm-
specific good news.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Event Studies
11-52
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McGraw-Hill Education.
45. Nicholas Manufacturing just announced yesterday that its fourth quarter earnings will be 10%
higher than last year's fourth quarter. Nicholas had an abnormal return of -1.2% yesterday. This
suggests that
C. investors expected the earnings increase to be larger than what was actually announced.
D. investors expected the earnings increase to be smaller than what was actually announced.
Anticipated earnings changes are impounded into a security's price as soon as expectations are
formed. Therefore a negative market response indicates that the earnings surprise was
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Event Studies
11-53
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McGraw-Hill Education.
46. When Maurice Kendall first examined stock price patterns in 1953, he found that
C. stocks whose prices had increased consistently for one week tended to have a net decrease
the following week.
D. stocks whose prices had increased consistently for one week tended to have a net increase
E. thedirection of change in stock prices was unpredictable, but the amount of change
The first studies in this area were made possible by the development of computer technology.
Kendall's study was the first to indicate that markets were efficient.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Implications of the EMH
A random walk means that the changes in prices are random and independent.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
11-54
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
48. The main difference between the three forms of market efficiency is that
The main difference is that weak form encompasses only historical data, semistrong form
encompasses historical data and current public information, and strong form encompasses
historical data, current public information, and inside information. All of the other definitions
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
11-55
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McGraw-Hill Education.
49. Chartists practice
A. technical analysis.
B. fundamental analysis.
C. regression analysis.
D. insider analysis.
E. psychoanalysis.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Implications of the EMH
11-56
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McGraw-Hill Education.
50. Which of the following are used by fundamental analysts to determine proper stock prices?
I) Trendlines
II) Earnings
III) Dividend prospects
IV) Expectations of future interest rates
V) Resistance levels
A. I, IV, and V
Fundamental analysts look at factors such as earnings, dividend prospects, expectation of future
interest rates, and risk of the firm. The information is used to determine the present value of
future cash flows to stockholders. Technical analysts use trendlines and resistance levels.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Implications of the EMH
11-57
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McGraw-Hill Education.
51. Which of the following are used by technical analysts to determine proper stock prices?
I) Trendlines
II) Earnings
III) Dividend prospects
IV) Expectations of future interest rates
V) Resistance levels
A. I and V
Fundamental analysts look at factors such as earnings, dividend prospects, expectation of future
interest rates, and risk of the firm. The information is used to determine the present value of
future cash flows to stockholders. Technical analysts use trendlines and resistance levels.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Implications of the EMH
11-58
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McGraw-Hill Education.
52. According to proponents of the efficient market hypothesis, the best strategy for a small
investor with a portfolio worth $40,000 is probably to
Individual investors tend to have relatively small portfolios and are usually unable to realize
economies of size. The best strategy is to pool funds with other small investors and allow
professional managers to invest the funds.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Mutual Fund/Analyst Performance
11-59
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McGraw-Hill Education.
53. Which of the following are investment superstars who have consistently shown superior
performance?
I) Warren Buffet
II) Phoebe Buffet
III) Peter Lynch
A. I, III, and IV
C. I and III
D. III and IV
Warren Buffet manages Berkshire Hathaway and Peter Lynch managed Fidelity's Magellan
Fund. Phoebe Buffet is a character on NBC's "Friends" and Jimmy Buffet is "Wasting Away in
Margaritaville." Merrill Lynch isn't a person.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Mutual Fund/Analyst Performance
11-60
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McGraw-Hill Education.
54. Google has a beta of 1.0. The annualized market return yesterday was 11%, and the risk-free
rate is currently 5%. You observe that Google had an annualized return yesterday of 14%.
Assuming that markets are efficient, this suggests that
AR = 14% - (5% + 1.0 (6%)) = +3.0%. A positive abnormal return suggests that there was firm-
specific good news.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-61
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McGraw-Hill Education.
55. Music Doctors has a beta of 2.25. The annualized market return yesterday was 12%, and the
risk-free rate is currently 4%. You observe that Music Doctors had an annualized return
yesterday of 15%. Assuming that markets are efficient, this suggests that
AR = 15% - (4% + 2.25 (8%)) = -7.0%. A negative abnormal return suggests that there was firm-
specific bad news.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-62
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McGraw-Hill Education.
56. QQAG has a beta of 1.7. The annualized market return yesterday was 13%, and the risk-free rate
is currently 3%. You observe that QQAG had an annualized return yesterday of 20%. Assuming
that markets are efficient, this suggests that
AR = 20% - (3% + 1.7 (10%)) = 0.0%. A positive abnormal return suggests that there was firm-
specific good news and a negative abnormal return suggests that there was firm-specific bad
news.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-63
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McGraw-Hill Education.
57. QQAG just announced yesterday that its fourth quarter earnings will be 35% higher than last
year's fourth quarter. You observe that QQAG had an abnormal return of -1.7% yesterday. This
suggests that
C. investors expected the earnings increase to be larger than what was actually announced.
D. investors expected the earnings increase to be smaller than what was actually announced.
Anticipated earnings changes are impounded into a security's price as soon as expectations are
formed. Therefore a negative market response indicates that the earnings surprise was
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-64
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McGraw-Hill Education.
58. LJP Corporation just announced yesterday that it would undertake an international joint
venture. You observe that LJP had an abnormal return of 3% yesterday. This suggests that
The positive abnormal return suggests that investors view the international joint venture as
good news.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
59. Music Doctors just announced yesterday that its first quarter sales were 35% higher than last
year's first quarter. You observe that Music Doctors had an abnormal return of -2% yesterday.
C. investors expected the sales increase to be larger than what was actually announced.
D. investors expected the sales increase to be smaller than what was actually announced.
The negative abnormal return suggests that investors expected the sales increase to be larger
than what was actually announced.
AACSB: Analytic
11-65
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
60. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just announced yesterday that they would approve a
new cancer-fighting drug from King. You observe that King had an abnormal return of 0%
yesterday. This suggests that
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Event Studies
61. Your professor finds a stock-trading rule that generates excess risk-adjusted returns. Instead of
publishing the results, she keeps the trading rule to herself. This is most closely associated with
A. regret avoidance.
B. selection bias.
C. framing.
D. insider trading.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
11-66
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
62. At freshman orientation, 1,500 students are asked to flip a coin 20 times. One student is
crowned the winner (tossed 20 heads). This is most closely associated with
A. regret avoidance.
B. selection bias.
C. overconfidence.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
63. Sehun (1986) finds that the practice of monitoring insider trade disclosures, and trading on that
information, would be
The practice of monitoring insider trade disclosures, and trading on that information, would be
AACSB: Analytic
11-67
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
A. sell bonds in this period if you held stocks in the last period.
B. sell stocks in this period if you held bonds in the last period.
D. go long.
E. sell stocks this period that performed well last period and go long.
The reversal effect states that stocks that do well in one period tend to perform poorly in the
subsequent period, and vice versa.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: Basic
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-68
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McGraw-Hill Education.
65. Patell and Woflson (1984) report that most of the stock price response to corporate dividend or
earnings announcements occurs within ____________ of the announcement.
A. 10 minutes
B. 45 minutes
C. 2 hours
D. 4 hours
E. 2 trading days
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
66. Del Guerico and Reuter (2013) report that the average underperformance of actively managed
B. index funds.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Mutual Fund and Analyst Performance
11-69
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Short Answer Questions
11-70
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McGraw-Hill Education.
67. Discuss the various forms of market efficiency. Include in your discussion the information sets
involved in each form and the relationships across information sets and across forms of market
efficiency. Also discuss the implications for the various forms of market efficiency for the various
types of securities' analysts.
The weak form of the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH) states that stock prices immediately
reflect market data. Market data refers to stock prices and trading volume. Technicians attempt
to predict future stock prices based on historic stock price movements. Thus, if the weak form
of the EMH holds, the work of the technician is of no value.
The semistrong form of the EMH states that stock prices include all public information. This
public information includes market data and all other publicly available information, such as
financial statements, and all information reported in the press relevant to the firm. Thus, market
information is a subset of all public information. As a result, if the semistrong form of the EMH
holds, the weak form must hold also. If the semistrong form holds, then the fundamentalist,
who attempts to identify undervalued securities by analyzing public information, is unlikely to
do so consistently over time. In fact, the work of the fundamentalist may make the markets
even more efficient!
The strong form of the EMH states that all information (public and private) is immediately
reflected in stock prices. Public information is a subset of all information; thus if the strong form
of the EMH holds, the semistrong form must hold also. The strong form of EMH states that
even with inside (legal or illegal) information, one cannot expect to outperform the market
Feedback: The purpose of this question is to assure that the student understands the
interrelationships across different forms of the EMH, across the information sets, and the
implications of each form for different types of analysts.
11-71
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McGraw-Hill Education.
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Market Hypothesis
68. What is an event study? It is a test of what form of market efficiency? Discuss the process of
conducting an event study, including the best variable(s) to observe as tests of market
efficiency.
A event study is an empirical test which allows the researcher to assess the impact of a
particular event on a firm's stock price. To do so, one often uses the index model and estimates
et, the residual term which measures the firm-specific component of the stock's return. This
variable is the difference between the return the stock would ordinarily earn for a given level of
market performance and the actual rate of return on the stock. This measure is often referred
to as the abnormal return of the stock. However, it is very difficult to identify the exact point in
time that an event becomes public information; thus, the better measure is the cumulative
abnormal return, which is the sum of abnormal returns over a period of time (a window around
Feedback: The rationale for this question is to ascertain if the student understands the
methodology most commonly used as a test of the semistrong form of market efficiency.
11-72
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McGraw-Hill Education.
69. Discuss the small firm effect, the neglected firm effect, and the January effect, the tax effect and
how the four effects may be related.
Studies have shown that small firms earn a risk-adjusted rate of return greater than that of
larger firms. Additional studies have shown that firms that are not followed by analysts
(neglected firms) also have a risk-adjusted return greater than that of larger firms. However, the
neglected firms tend to be small firms; thus, the neglected firm effect may be a manifestation of
the small firm effect. Finally, studies have shown that returns in January tend to be higher than
in other months of the year. This effect has been shown to persist consistently over the years.
However, the January effect may be the tax effect, as investors may have sold stocks with losses
in December for tax purposes and reinvested in January. Small firms (and neglected firms)
would tend to be more affected by this increased buying than larger firms, as small firms tend
to sell for lower prices.
Feedback: The purpose of this question is to reinforce the interrelationships, that "effects" may
not always be independent and thus readily identifiable. In addition, these effects are widely
discussed in the financial press, and the January effect appears to be quite persistent.
11-73
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McGraw-Hill Education.
70. Why might the degree of market efficiency differ across various markets? State three reasons
why this might occur, and explain each reason briefly.
(1) Market efficiency depends on information being essentially free and costless to market
participants. In the U.S. this is the case to a large extent. The U.S. markets are well developed,
and professional analysts often follow securities. Information is available on television, in the
press, and on the Internet. The opposite may be true in other markets, such as those of
developing countries, where there are fewer or no analysts and few market participants with
these resources. (2) Accounting disclosure requirements are different across markets. In the U.S.
firms must meet SEC requirements to be publicly traded. In other countries the requirements
may be different or nonexistent. This has implications about the ease with which analysts can
evaluate the company to determine its proper value. (3) Markets for "neglected" stocks may be
less efficient than markets for stocks that are heavily followed by analysts. If analysts feel that it
is not worthwhile to give their attention to particular stocks, then ample information about
Feedback: This question leads the student to look at some of the fundamental reasons for
market efficiency and why there may be differences among markets with regard to the reasons.
Alternative answers are possible.
11-74
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McGraw-Hill Education.
71. With regard to market efficiency, what is meant by the term "anomaly"? Give three examples of
market anomalies and explain why each is considered to be an anomaly.
Anomalies are patterns that should not exist if the market is truly efficient. Investors might be
able to make abnormal profits by exploiting the anomalies, which doesn't make sense in an
efficient market.
Possible examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
The small firm effect—average annual returns are consistently higher for small-firm portfolios,
even when adjusted for risk by using the CAPM.
The January effect—the small firm effect occurs virtually entirely in January.
The neglected firm effect—small firms tend to be ignored by large institutional traders and
stock analysts. This lack of monitoring makes them riskier and they earn higher risk-adjusted
returns. The January effect is largest for neglected firms.
The liquidity effect—investors demand a return premium to invest in less-liquid stocks. This is
related to the small firm effect and the neglected firm effect. These stocks tend to earn high
risk-adjusted rates of return.
Book-to-market ratios—firms with the higher book-to-market-value ratios have higher risk-
adjusted returns, suggesting that they are underpriced. When combined with the firm-size
factor, this ratio explained returns better than systematic risk as measured by beta.
The reversal effect—stocks that have performed best in the recent past seem to underperform
the rest of the market in the following periods, and vice versa. Other studies indicated that this
effect might be an illusion. These studies used portfolios formed mid-year rather than in
market should adjust prices to their proper levels. But these things have been documented to
occur repeatedly.
Feedback: This question tests whether the student grasps the basic concept of anomalies and
allows some choice in explaining some of them.
11-75
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Blooms: Analyze
Difficulty: Intermediate
Topic: Efficient Markets
11-76
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McGraw-Hill Education.