Time: 13:00-15:00 (UK Time), Wednesday, 2 June 2021
Presenter: Dr. Junhong Yang, SOAS University of London
Chair: Professor Victor Murinde, SOAS University of London
Online venue: Click here to join the seminar on Microsoft Teams (For any inquiry about how to join the online seminar, please contact Dr Meng Xie: xm1@soas.ac.uk)

Abstract
We investigate whether disagreement on StockTwits provides firm-specific information. Using supervised machine learning approaches and a novel dataset, we predict investors' recommendations and measure disagreement among investors on StockTwits. Our findings suggest that an increase in investors' disagreement results in a drop in return synchronicity. The negative impact of investors' disagreement on return synchronicity suggests higher inflows of firm-specific information. In line with this view, we find that disagreement improves price informativeness by increasing the price leads of earnings. Further empirical evidence suggests that the negative impact of disagreement on return synchronicity is more pronounced for firms with less transparent information environments and higher salience on StockTwits.

Presenter

Dr. Junhong Yang

Junhong is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at School of Finance and Management, SOAS University of London. His research focuses on Corporate Finance, Financial Technology, Social Media, Financial Inclusion and Innovations. He has published widely in the area of finance and economics, such as Journal of Corporate Finance, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Oxford Economics Papers, European Journal of Finance.

Junhong also serves as an academic consultant in the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). He was a research fellow at the Institute of Public Finance, Zagreb, Croatia. He has been involved in different research proposals/projects, e.g., the UK-China ESRC-NSFC Grant, the British Academy research grant and Marie Curie Host Fellowship (awarded in 2016) to carry out research with high quality and great impact.