Concept of Market Efficiency5 min
An informationally efficient market is one where asset prices fully reflect all available information. In such markets, market value aligns with intrinsic value. Since prices respond rapidly to new, unexpected information, active management strategies often underperform due to fees and transaction costs, making passive investing superior. Efficiency is influenced by the number of participants, information availability, arbitrage limits, short-selling restrictions, and transaction costs.

Key Points

  • Efficient markets reflect all available information.
  • Market Value = Intrinsic Value in efficient markets.
  • Prices react to unexpected information (surprises).
  • Passive strategies are preferred over active ones in efficient markets.
  • High transaction costs or arbitrage limits reduce efficiency.
Forms of Market Efficiency5 min
The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) categorizes efficiency into three forms based on the information set. Weak form efficiency implies prices reflect past trading data, negating technical analysis. Semi-strong form includes all public information, negating fundamental analysis. Strong form includes all public and private information, implying even insiders cannot consistently profit.

Key Points

  • Weak Form: Reflects past price/volume; Technical analysis fails.
  • Semi-Strong Form: Reflects public info; Fundamental analysis fails.
  • Strong Form: Reflects all info (public + private); Insider trading fails.
  • Strong form encompasses semi-strong and weak forms.
  • Semi-strong form encompasses weak form.
Market Anomalies5 min
Anomalies are empirical observations that seem to violate market efficiency. Time-series anomalies include the January effect, Overreaction (reversals), and Momentum. Cross-sectional anomalies include the Size effect (small caps outperform) and Value effect (low P/E stocks outperform). Other anomalies involve IPO pricing and earnings surprises.

Key Points

  • January Effect: Small firms outperform in January (tax-loss selling/window dressing).
  • Momentum: High short-term returns continue (violates weak form).
  • Value Effect: Low P/E or P/B stocks outperform growth stocks (violates semi-strong).
  • Size Effect: Small-cap stocks outperform large-cap.
  • IPO shares are often underpriced initially but underperform long-term.
Behavioral Finance5 min
Behavioral finance explains market deviations through investor psychology rather than rational models. It identifies biases such as loss aversion (disliking losses more than valuing gains), overconfidence, herding, and conservatism. These biases suggest investors do not always evaluate risk and return rationally.

Key Points

  • Loss Aversion: Losses are psychologically twice as powerful as gains.
  • Overconfidence: Overestimating analytical abilities.
  • Herding: Mimicking investment actions of others.
  • Conservatism: Slow reaction to new information.
  • Narrow Framing: Focusing on issues in isolation.

Questions

Question 1

In a perfectly efficient market, which of the following statements is most accurate regarding investment strategy?

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Question 2

Market efficiency is determined by the time it takes for which of the following to be reflected in security prices?

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Question 3

In an efficient market, the market value of an asset is expected to be:

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Question 4

Which of the following best describes 'Intrinsic Value'?

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Question 5

Market prices are most likely to change in response to:

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Question 6

Which factor would most likely reduce market efficiency?

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Question 7

If the cost of obtaining information is higher than the potential profit from trading on it, market prices will likely:

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Question 8

Which form of market efficiency asserts that technical analysis cannot generate abnormal returns?

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Question 9

In a Semi-strong form efficient market, prices reflect:

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Question 10

Which analysis method is considered ineffective in a Semi-strong efficient market?

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Question 11

Under Strong form market efficiency, which of the following can generate consistent abnormal returns?

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Question 12

If a market is Semi-strong efficient, it must also be:

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Question 13

The 'January Effect' is an anomaly where:

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Question 14

Which explanation is commonly associated with the January effect?

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Question 15

The 'Overreaction' anomaly suggests that firms with poor returns over 3 to 5 years will likely:

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Question 16

The 'Momentum' anomaly describes a situation where:

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Question 17

Which form of market efficiency is violated by the Momentum and Overreaction anomalies?

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Question 18

The 'Size Effect' refers to the observation that:

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Question 19

The 'Value Effect' suggests that investors can earn abnormal returns by investing in stocks with:

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Question 20

The Value Effect and Size Effect are examples of violations of:

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Question 21

Which anomaly describes Closed-end investment funds trading at prices different from their Net Asset Value (NAV)?

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Question 22

Regarding IPOs, research typically suggests that shares are:

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Question 23

Behavioral finance assumes that investors:

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Question 24

Loss aversion is the concept that:

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Question 25

Which behavioral bias involves investors mimicking the investment actions of others?

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Question 26

An information cascade occurs when:

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Question 27

Conservatism in behavioral finance refers to investors being:

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Question 28

Narrow framing refers to focusing on:

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Question 29

If investors overestimate their abilities to analyze securities, this bias is known as:

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Question 30

Which of the following implies that investors should adopt a passive investment strategy?

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Question 31

In the context of market efficiency, 'Window Dressing' is a practice often cited as a cause for:

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Question 32

Which of the following is a characteristic of 'Value Stocks' mentioned in market anomalies?

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Question 33

If a market is weak-form efficient, which of the following statements is true regarding prices?

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Question 34

What is the relationship between the number of market participants and market efficiency?

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Question 35

Arbitrage plays what role in market efficiency?

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Question 36

How does the availability of information affect market efficiency?

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Question 37

A market with high transaction costs is likely to be:

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Question 38

Which of the following works in a Weak form efficient market?

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Question 39

In the context of 'Earnings Surprises', markets tend to:

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Question 40

According to research mentioned, stock returns are related to known economic fundamentals (like dividend yields) but:

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Question 41

Which of the following is considered a 'Cross-sectional' anomaly?

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Question 42

Which of the following is considered a 'Time-series' anomaly?

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Question 43

Can intrinsic value be known with certainty?

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Question 44

Which type of analysis is most associated with Weak Form efficiency testing?

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Question 45

If investors mimic the decisions of others, it is called an Information Cascade. How is this similar to Herding?

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Question 46

Which of the following is true regarding 'Insider Trading' and market efficiency?

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Question 47

What happens to the intrinsic value of an asset as new information becomes available?

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Question 48

Which anomaly refers to the outperformance of firms with low P/B ratios?

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Question 49

The 'Calendar' anomalies include which of the following?

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Question 50

Which of the following strategies relies on the assumption that markets are NOT efficient?

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