The dissertation thesis deals with the problem efficiency of the spot currency market. The main aim of this thesis is to verify the Efficient-market hypothesis on the majo foreign exchange pairs, and especially in the short term. The author focuses on the effective functioning of foreign exchange markets. The behaiour of the five main spot foreign exchange pairs - EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, USD/JPY and USD/CAD was analyzed in the thesis. Due to the increasing rise of intraday trades and growing popularity of margin accounts among retail investors, spot rates have been investigated primarily through a high-frequency data, that were collected for a period equal to or shorter than one day. The hypothesis of the effective exchange rate behaviour was verified by both using statistical methods, such as through automated trading systems, which were designed to assess the economic importance of the theory and to exclude or confirm the possibility of achieving above-average profits of retail investors on the foreign exchange markets.

[pt] O presente trabalho busca analisar se um choque de notícia falsa que afetou os preços das ações da construtora europeia Vinci S.A., em novembro de 2016, teve algum componente de persistência na dissipação. Para tal, são construídos três modelos contrafactuais para traçar as trajetórias alternativas de preço que as ações da Vinci teriam percorrido na ausência do choque. A premissa básica do presente estudo é que os preços das ações são compostos por fundamento e por ruído (noise), sendo um choque de notícia falsa uma espécie de fenômeno natural em finanças, que torna possível separar o ruído dos fundamentos que definem o preço. Quando a informação falsa é absorvida como verdadeira, todos os agentes se tornam propagadores de ruído, ao passo que quando o ruído é revelado, o mercado deveria voltar a operar apenas com base nos fundamentos. Os resultados aqui encontrados apontam para uma rigidez temporária na trajetória de retorno do preço das ações ao seu preço fundamental após o choque, o que contraria a hipótese da incorporação imediata da informação ao preço proposta por algumas teorias de mercados eficientes. Os modelos aqui propostos mostraram-se bem especificados e as suas conclusões se corroboraram, conferindo robustez ao resultado. / [en] The present paper seeks to analyze if a fake news shock that affected the stock prices of the European construction company Vinci S.A., in November 2016, had any component of persistence in its dissipation. The paper constructs three contractual models to trace alternative trajectories for the price that Vinci stocks would have followed in the absence of the shock.The basic premise of this paper is that asset prices are composed both by noise and fundamental, and a fake news shock is a sort of natural phenomena in finance that makes it possible to identify the noise and the fundamental that compose prices. When false information is taken as true, all agents become temporally noise traders and when the noise is revealed, the market comes back to operate based on fundamental. The models point to a temporary stickiness of noise during the return of the prices to their fundamentals after the shock, contradicting the assumption of immediate incorporation of information to the price proposed by some Efficient Market Theories. The models have demonstrated to be well specified and they all have pointed to the same conclusions, conferring robustness to the results.

[pt] Neste trabalho, estudo o comportamento dos arbitradores ao se depararem com variações nos níveis de preços das ações, mais especificamente, analisando a forma como eles buscam informações sobre esses ativos. Para isso, testo e confirmo a hipótese de que os retornos anormais das ações levam os investidores a buscarem ativamente mais informações sobre essas empresas, usando dados de volume de buscas no Google. Adicionalmente, analiso de forma separada o impacto de retornos anormais negativos e de retornos anormais positivos sobre o volume de buscas do Google, chegando à conclusão de que os retornos negativos têm um efeito maior sobre o volume de buscas que os efeitos positivos. / [en] I study the behavior of arbitrageurs when they are faced with changes in stock price levels, more specifically analyzing the way they seek information about these assets. I test and confirm the hypothesis that abnormal stock returns prompt investors to seek actively information about these companies by using Google search volume data. Furthermore, I study the separate effects of negative abnormal returns and positive abnormal returns on Google search volumes, and conclude that negative returns cause a greater impact on the search volumes than positive returns.

This work focuses on the Czech stock market. Work is focused on the application of the theory of efficient markets, which is one of the theories explaining the evolution of prices of securities, the stock market in the Czech Republic from 2000 to 2008. Efficient market theory represents a random walk, which is used as a tool to describe the phenomenon where the future price changes are random divergence from past prices. The thesis is divided into several parts. The first part presents an actual stock market in the Czech Republic. Because most of the work deals with the analysis yields the PX stock index was that in the next section in detail described and analyzed. Furthermore, the Czech stock market has been analyzed in terms of structure and trading volume. The next section has described the theory of efficient markets. Was described briefly the history of this theory. Another part of this work can be described as a purely practical. First, the work focuses on the market in the one year time series of returns. In second part were analyzed medium-long term consisting of three year time series of returns. The last analyzed period was long term, consisting of eight-year time series of returns from 2000 to 2008.

Does value investing work on the 21-st century Swedish stock market? We examine the performances of the FScore strategy (Piotroski 2000), the V/P strategy (Frankel and Lee 1998), and a combination of these (Li and Mohanram 2019) on the Swedish stock market between 2000-2020. We find that they produce significant and substantial average raw returns during the period, much above the total return of a comparable market index. However, only the abnormal return of the FScore strategy is statistically significant, even though that of the combined strategy is higher. Based on a very low power of the Fama and French (2015) five-factor model in explaining the returns of the V/P and combined strategies, we argue that the insignificance is most likely due to under-diversification. / Fungerar värdeinvestering på 2000-talets Svenska aktiemarknad? Vi undersöker hur FScore-strategin (Piotroski 2000), V/P-strategin (Frankel och Lee 1998) och en kombination av dessa (Li och Mohanram 2019) har presterat på Svenska aktiemarknaden mellan 2000-2020. Vi finner att de under perioden gett upphov till signifikanta genomsnittliga avkastningar som är klart högre än Stockholmsbörsens totalavkastning. Dock är det endast FScore strategin som ger upphov till signifikant abnormal avkastning, trots att den från den kombinerade strategin är högre. Baserat på att avkastningarna från V/P-och kombinerade strategin knappast kan förklaras av Fama och French (2015) femfaktormodell argumenterar vi för att den statistiska insignifikansen troligtvis härstammar från underdiversifiering.

This thesis proposes a theory of inefficient markets that uses limited rational choice as a central trait and I call it the theory of Homo comperiens. The theory limits the alternatives and states that the subjects are aware of and only allow them to have rational preference relations on the limited action set and state set, i.e. limited rationality is introduced. With limited rational choice, I drive a wedge between the market price and the intrinsic value and thus create an arbitrage market. In the theory, the subjects are allowed to gain knowledge about something that they previously were unaware of. As the discovery proceeds, the arbitrage opportunities disappear, and the market prices regress towards the intrinsic values. The theory is applied to firms and market-pricing models for a Homo comperiens environment is a result. The application of the theory to firms also leads to testable propositions that I test on a uniquely comprehensive Swedish accounting database that cover the years 1978—1994. Hypotheses are tested which argues that risk-adjusted residual rates-of-returns exist. The null hypotheses argue that risk-adjusted residual rates-of-returns do not exist (since they assume a no-arbitrage market). The null hypotheses are rejected in favor of their alternatives at a 0.0 percent significance level. The tests use approximately 22,200 observations. I also test hypotheses which argue that risk-adjusted residual rates-of-returns regress to zero with time. The null hypotheses are randomly walking risk-adjusted residual rates-of-returns, which are rejected in favor of the alternative hypotheses. The hypotheses are tested using panel regression models and goodness-of-fit tests. I reject the null hypotheses of random walk at a 0.0 percent significance level. Finally, the results are validated using out-of-sample predictions where my models compete with random-walk predictions. It finds that the absolute prediction errors from my models are between 12 to 24 percent less than the errors from the random walk model. These results are significant at a 0.0 percent significance level.

In my diploma I analyzed the USA capital market. I concentrated on 5 representative branches of this market - the biotechnology, the food industry, the car industry, the mining and the finances. 12 companies, which quote their share of stocks in the american capital market, were choosed. I tested the efficiency of this capital market and tried to establish the rate of this market´s efficiency. Later the best strategy was added to the rate of capital market´s efficiency. I counted the average decree, the standard deviation, the variation coefficient, the {$\alpha$} coefficient and {$\beta$} coefficient at the choosed share of stocks. I accomplished the correlative and the runs testing, which were supposed to certify the efficiency of market. The certain anomalies as The Day of the Week Effect, The January Effect and The Size Effect were investigated in more detail. Further I was considering if either the active or the passive strategy should have been used. I concluded that the active strategy is better for investors in times of the financial crisis. I also analyzed P/E ratio at choosed companies. The performated testing shows that the american market of shares is effective, it has the form of low efficiency peak-form efficient markets hypothesis.

The field of behavioural finance remains to be a major criticizer to the efficient market hypothesis, claiming all humans of being rational. Some argues for the lack of behavioural aspects of investors being a main cause to the financial crisis of 2008, due to tendencies of them following same investment paths. Understanding investors’ sights and approaches is important as behavioural differences can contribute to further enhancements in the financial markets. This study examines the approaches towards the financial markets of managers of actively managed mutual funds in Sweden. By interviewing six managers of actively managed mutual funds, representative conclusions could be drawn, although, not statistically significant as for the lack of supporting numbers of significance. Representatively for the participants in this thesis, the overall estimation of the markets is considered to be efficient to some extent, but do occasionally indicate for having flaws, of which the managers are taken advantage of. Behaving rationally was found to be representative when deciding what and when to invest. Confidence have been proven to be a common attribute among the managers influencing their decisions and investments. You obtain less without confidence than you would have with it. Although, too much confidence can be damageable. There is no point of thinking of hindsight as afterthoughts does not change your past decision. / Beteendefinansiering som ämne är än idag en stor del av kritiken mot den effektiva marknadshypotesen som antar att alla människor är rationella i sitt beteende. Vissa påstår att de bristande beteendemässiga aspekterna är nästintill en huvudanledning till varför finanskrisen 2008 blev som det blev på grund av tendensen av att flertalet investerare följer samma spår. Att förstå hur investerare ser och angriper finansiella marknader är viktigt då det vidare kan möjliggöra för förbättringar på dem marknaderna. Denna studie undersöker förvaltares angreppssätt mot marknader för aktivt förvaltade fonder i Sverige. Genom att intervjua sex förvaltare för aktivt förvaltade fonder har representativa slutsatser kunnat dras, dock inte signifikanta, då metodologin brister i signifikanta siffror som stöd. Respondenternas syn på marknaden antas vara effektiv överlag, men som emellanåt indikerar för ineffektivitet. Att bete sig rationellt resulterade även det för att vara representativt gällande i vad och när man ska investera. Självförtroende i det man som förvaltare sysslar med på en daglig basis är viktigt att ha och är bevisat, dock inte med signifikant stöd av siffror, vara ett gemensamt attribut bland förvaltarna. Har man inte självförtroende som fondförvaltare kan det leda till brister, likt om man har för gott sådant. Det är heller ingen idé att tänka på vad man borde göra i efterhand då sådana eftersläpande tankar inte kan påverka dåtida beslut.

The main aim of this presented diploma thesis is to help build a systematic understanding of the political and social foundations of global financial markets, their operations and impacts on the global power affairs. The thesis highlights the dynamic complexity of the post financial crisis state of the World with its itra- and inter-social features. It instrumentaly uses critique of a free market agenda and neo-classical economy which contrasts the Efficient Markets Hypothesis with Hyman Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis (FIH), taking into account the dynamic complexity of financial markets. This approach offers analytical tools that can account for crisis through processes endogenous to contemporary financial capitalism. I shall argue that a financially complex system is, according to the FIH, inherently flawed and unstable. After a theoretical and historical review, the thesis discusses various aspects of the process of austerity regime and its social consequences. This provides an opportunity for analyses of the ongoing existence of interstate competition, of militarised foreign policy, and of other international, at times violent conflicts. In an effort to make sense of some of these phenomena, I instrumentaly use the study of geoeconomics that builds on some fundamental assumptions...

The medical device industry has seen rapid growth in recent years, and the increasing valuations has caught the attention of investors. Although their growth has outpaced many indices, medical device companies’ reliance on capital to finance research, patents, and clinical testing to reach pre-market approval makes due-diligence and the investment research process especially complex. Investors frequently rely on intuition when making investment decisions and it would therefore be particularly valuable if there was a way to accurately predict future returns. Although stock return prediction and market anomalies are a frequently debated topic among finance researchers, unlike other studies which look at whole markets this study looks at a particular subset of companies. This study looks at 63 recently listed medical device companies in the US market to analyze the predictability of future shareholder returns. The metrics analyzed are some of the most common quantitative metrics used by investors. A multiple linear regression model is used to determine if the metrics can predict future total returns, and abnormal returns. An interview was conducted with an industry investment expert to get more insight in the sector and to evaluate the chosen metrics. This study also examines the same data set during two eras; predictability before and after the financial crisis in 2009, to see if predictability is constant over time. The findings show that free cash flow yield is the only statistically significant variable in the model. This implies that if a recently listed medical device company has a negative free cash flow yield for one year, it will have a positive return the following year. From the analysis on the two eras, before and after 2009, predictability is found to be lower after the financial crisis. / Den medicintekniska industrin har sett snabb tillväxt de senaste åren och de ökande värderingarna har lockat investerarnas intresse. Även om deras tillväxt har överträffat många index, innebär medicintekniska företags beroende av kapital för att finansiera forskning, patent och kliniska tester för att nå godkännande före marknaden en särskilt komplicerad besiktnings- och analyseringsprocess. Investerare förlitar sig ofta på intuition när de fattar investeringsbeslut och det skulle därför vara synnerligen värdefullt om det fanns ett sätt att noggrant förutsäga framtida avkastning. Även om aktieavkastnings förutsägbarhet och marknadsavvikelser är ett ofta diskuterat ämne bland finansforskare, undersöker denna studie en viss undergrupp av företag till skillnad från andra studier som undersöker hela marknader. Denna studie analyserar 63 nyligen börsnoterade medicintekniska företag på den amerikanska marknaden för att analysera förutsägbarheten av framtida aktieägaravkastning. Mätvärdena som analyseras är några av de vanligaste kvantitativa mätvärdena som används av investerare. En multipellinjär regressionsmodell används för att avgöra om måtten kan förutsäga framtida totalavkastning och abnorm avkastning. En intervju genomfördes med en expert på investeringar inom denna sektor för att få mer insikt och för att utvärdera de valda variablerna. Denna studie undersöker också samma datauppsättning under två epoker; förutsägbarhet före och efter finanskrisen 2009, för att se om förutsägbarheten är konstant över tid. Resultaten visar att fri kassaflödesavkastning är den enda statistiskt signifikanta variabeln i modellen. Detta innebär att om ett nyligen börsnoterat medicintekniskt företag har en negativ avkastning på fritt kassaflöde under ett år, kommer det att ha en positiv aktieavkastning året därpå. Från analysen av de två epokerna, före och efter 2009, visar sig förutsägbarheten vara lägre efter finanskrisen.