School Of Business Administration: Financial Review

· Abstract: This paper provides a review of empirical research in four topics within the area of market microstructure. Specifically, the paper provides an overview of issues related to (a) the estimation of the components of the bid-ask spread, (b) the effects of order flow and regulation on market liquidity, (c) the differences and similarities between the NYSE and the Nasdaq and (d) the interaction between the options and underlying stock markets.

"Market-Making in the Third Market for NYSE-listed Securities"

Lynn Doran
Volume 34, No. 4, pp. 29-54

· Abstract: This paper empirically examines market making in the third market for common stocks that are listed on the NYSE. Although the same non-NYSE members make a market on both types of stocks, bid-ask spreads are wider on Rule 19c-3 stocks than on Rule 390 stocks. Market-making by NYSE members is minimal and spreads posted by NYSE members are wider than those posted on identical stocks by non-NYSE members. This suggests that NYSE members do not compete on the basis of spread but use methods such as price matching and the internalization of orders to attract order flow to the third market.

"The Impact of Market Maker Competition on Nasdaq Spreads"

Mark Klock and D. Timothy McCormick
Volume 34, No. 4, pp. 55-74

· Abstract: This study utilizes a comprehensive database containing monthly information on the number of market makers for about 5,288 Nasdaq securities over an eight-year period to investigate the impact of competition on spreads. A variety of models are estimated in order to demonstrate the robustness of the results that include four specific findings: (1) the number of market makers has a negative and highly significant impact on spreads; (2) the relationship is nonlinear with a decreasing impact by the marginal market maker; (3) Nasdaq spreads have been declining over time; and (4) structural changes in Nasdaq are associated with significant changes in the relationship between spread and the number of market makers. One improvement over the literature includes allowing endogenous competition through the use of instrumental variables.

"Changing the Size of a Futures Contract: Liquidity and Microstructure Effects"

Ahmet K. Karagozoglu and Terrence F. Martell
Volume 34, No. 4, pp. 75-94

· Abstract: We analyze the relation between contract size and liquidity using data from the respecification of Sydney Future Exchange's (SFE) Share Price Index (SPI) and 90-day Bank Accepted Bill (BAB) futures contracts. Respecification of SPI and BAB contracts presents a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of a change in futures contract size. SFE decreased the size of SPI futures by a factor of four while increasing its minimum tick. The BAB contract was doubled in size with the minimum tick size left unchanged. We find, after controlling for market factors, that the respecification of the SPI futures resulted in higher trading volume, while that of BAB futures decreased trading volume. The results regarding spreads are ambiguous. Based on two cases investigated, we conclude that decreasing the futures contract size was effective in terms of enhancing liquidity while increasing the size resulted in a reduction in liquidity.

"The Cross-Sectional Relationship Between Trading Costs and Lead/lag Effects in Stock & Option Markets"

Matthew L. O'Connor
Volume 34, No. 4, pp. 95-118

· Abstract: Prior empirical research has failed to settle the question of lead/lag effects between stock and option markets. This study investigates the relation between cross-sectional differences in trading costs and intraday lead/lag effects in stock and option markets. The data for the study comprise 19 firms sampled at five-minute intervals over a two-month period. Consistent with a trading cost hypothesis, results indicate overall stock market leading behavior. However, the lead appears to be related to option market trading costs. This study uses an error correction model framework to investigate the lead/lag effects. This approach provides information on both the long run equilibrating process as well as the short term interactions between stock and option markets. Information regarding the long run equilibrating process is important to the overall understanding of lead/lag effects and cannot be determined from time series models of differenced data. Specific criteria for assessing lead/lag effects in cointegrated series are also proposed. One advantage of these new criteria is their ability to identify leading behavior in the presence of feedback. All models are estimated with quote data and are constructed to eliminate overnight effects. Hence, the results are robust to previously identified distortions due to closing, overnight, and potential non-trading effects. However, caution should be employed in generalizing the results as the study covers a two-month trading period for a limited number of firms.

"Information Production, Insider Trading, and the Role of Managerial Compensation"

Ranga Narayanan
Volume 34, No. 4, pp. 119-144

· Abstract: We analyze the information production decision of a manager who can trade on this information and whose compensation is increasing in the stock price. The amount of information produced increases with the stock's volatility and liquidity and decreases with the manager's pay-performance sensitivity. Insider trading regulations that symmetrically inhibit the manager's ability to buy and sell stock cause her to produce less information. But asymmetric insider trading regulations like the short sales prohibition have an ambiguous effect inducing her to produce more or less information depending on her pay-performance sensitivity. This contradicts the standard argument made by opponents of insider trading regulations that such regulations always reduce information production.

"Nasdaq and The Chicago Stock Exchange: An Analysis of Multiple Market Trading"

Bonnie F. Van Ness, Robert A. Van Ness, and Wen-Liang Hsieh
Volume 34, No. 4, pp. 145-158

· Abstract:We analyze a set of 97 NASD-listed securities that trade on both the Nasdaq and Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) to determine if trading costs and price improvements differ between the two markets. We find that order execution costs, which we define by the traded spread and the signed effective half-spread, are significantly lower on the CHX. This difference is consistent over trade types and for trades of at least 1,000 shares. Also, we find that trades occurring on the CHX receive more price improvement than do those occurring on Nasdaq.

"Day-of-the-Week Autocorrelations, Cross-Autocorrelations, and the Weekend Phenomenon"

Eric James Higgins and David R. Peterson
Volume 34, No. 4, pp. 159-170

· Abstract: This study examines whether autocorrelations or cross-autocorrelations are more closely associated with the weekend phenomenon. Our results show a significant day-of-the-week pattern in autocorrelations associated with the weekend phenomenon. However we find no marginal influence of a day-of-the-week pattern in cross-autocorrelations on the weekend phenomenon.

The University of Mississippi: School of Business Administration