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We investigate the extent to which the scheduled release of macroeconomic indicators affects acquirer’s value in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). We find that M&As announced on days of the release of key macroeconomic indicators (i.e. indicator days) realize higher announcement period risk-adjusted returns compared to counterparts announced on non-indicator days. This positive wealth effect is due to the higher market attention on indicator release dates, which is particularly relevant for smaller M&As that tend to have low degrees of investor scrutiny. The results hold after addressing self-selection bias concerns. We also find that firms that announce M&As on indicator days are more likely to “listen” to the market’s feedback.

Through the three industrial revolutions, technology has enabled rapid changes in society. In a capitalist society, capital is invested where there is utility, for example, economic benefit. We intend to determine that the stock price of a company that uses a particular technology will change with the life cycle of the technology in question. Specifically, we filtered companies that mainly deal with augmented reality and are listed in Korea&rsquo, s KOSDAQ market. We grouped these companies based on detailed technologies that constitute augmented reality. We used the event study method to calculate the stock returns against a benchmark. As a result, in the &ldquo, Peak of Inflated Expectations&rdquo, stage, the portfolios of all companies using augmented reality generally show higher returns than the benchmark. However, it is difficult to ascertain whether a return generated based on one of the detailed technologies that make up augmented reality is higher or lower than that of the benchmark. During the &ldquo, Trough of Disillusionment&rdquo, phase, there was neither a consistent trend of cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) nor buy-and-hold abnormal returns (BHAR). However, during this stage, there was a positive correlation of average BHAR and average abnormal returns between the entire sample&rsquo, s portfolio and each detailed technology firm&rsquo, s portfolio.

The paper examines the impact of firms exhibiting political connection on their stock market performance. The results appear to suggest that the performance of ‘political’ stocks has been significantly weak. This is apparent in simple univariate tests that compare the political stocks across various industry categories or even comparisons of political versus apolitical stocks. The regression analysis indicates that the returns on political stocks are on average, over 20% lower as compared to stocks without any political association.