Accounting Seminar（2018-03）

Topic: Understanding Analysts’ Use of Macroeconomic News

Speaker: Frank Zhang，Yale University

Time: Wednesday, March 21th, 10:00-11:30 a.m

Place: Room 217, Guanghua Building 2

Abstract:

We investigate analysts’ use of macroeconomic news in their earnings forecasts. We find that analysts use but underreact to macroeconomic news in their forecasts. The inefficiency can be ascribed to the failure in placing unbiased weight on macroeconomic news and identifying the firm exposure to macroeconomy correctly. We also find that analysts use macroeconomic news more efficiently when they have more industry experience and when macroeconomy is less uncertain. The results suggest that the ability of extracting information from macroeconomic news serves as one source of analyst expertise.

Introduction:

Frank Zhang is a professor at Yale University. His research focuses on empirical capital market researches, including stock anomalies, fundamental analysis, investor and analyst behavior, management incentives, and corporate financial reporting. He has published about 20 papers in leading accounting and finance journals, such as The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Finance, and Review of Financial Studies. He is currently a member of the FARS Steering Boad and an Associate Editor of Management Science. He has a PhD from the University of Chicago.

Your participation is warmly welcomed!