Jayen B. Patel

An examination of the day-of-the-week effect in junk bond returns over business cycles

Abstract While many investors consider junk bonds to be part of a well-diversified portfolio, the literature defining these securities is inconclusive. In particular, the day-of-the-week effect , widely documented in other financial markets, has not yet been carefully examined in the junk bond market. Thus, to significantly extend the research on the day-of-the-week effect , this paper tests for the existence of this anomaly in the junk bond market, the investment-grade bond market, and the CRSP equity index over different business cycles. The findings of this study tend to confirm the uniqueness of the junk bond market, which differs significantly from the other markets. Also, the results suggest that the distinction by business cycle has important implications on the existence of the day-of-the-week effect .

The Impact of Leadership Characteristics on Corporate Performance

We identify three attributes of a firm that exert significant positive impact on stock return performance of companies. Specifically, quality of management, financial soundness and quality of products/services indicators are critical for successful financial performance. We then discuss the leadership characteristics that are necessary to positively affect these attributes. We believe this information provides insights into the type of leadership characteristics that result in improved financial performance.

A further analysis of small firm stock returns

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to compare recent performance of small firms with that of large firms in developed and emerging stock markets. Design/methodology/approach - T-tests as well as Wilcoxon Signed Rank test statistics are utilized to test the differences in returns between stock indices. Additionally, ANOVA and median test statistics were conducted to test differences in size premiums over years. Finally, Findings - It was found that small firms did not generate significantly different returns than large firms in recent years. More specifically, size premiums were not sensitive to market conditions and were not significantly higher in January over non-January months. These results indicate stock markets no longer exhibit a size effect or a reverse size effect. Originality/value - The paper contributes to the finance literature by examining the size effect as well as the reverse size effect in developed and emerging stock markets on recent data.

Comparative Performance of Value and Growth Stock Indexes

The authors demonstrate that a growth stock index generated higher returns than a value stock index when the overall stock market performed well. Alternately, the value stock index generated higher returns than the growth stock index when the overall stock market performed poorly. This article provides compelling evidence that the value premium is inversely related to the performance of the overall stock market. The authors believe that this simple relationship will help investors better understand the comparative performance of the two investment styles.