The effects of quarterly earnings announcements on the returns of stocks

Includes bibliographical references.The dramatic rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the last year has fueled new interest in the stock market. People are always trying to get the edge, using whatever information they can use. But does any of this information really help investors to achieve abnormal returns. Does knowledge of a stock split or an earnings announcement help the average investor to get the jump on the competition? I hope that my paper will shed some light on this subject. The purpose of my paper is to test the semi-strong form of the efficient market hypothesis. My study will try to prove that the stock market is efficient in reacting to the new information as it is released to the public. I will study the effects of the announcement of quarterly earnings on the price of securities and attempt to determine whether the stock market is efficient in reacting to the announcement. The paper is divided into four major parts. First, I will define the efficient market hypothesis and its various forms, concentrating on the semi-strong form. Next, I will present evidence from published sources both supporting and contradictory to the efficient market hypothesis. Then, I will report on the processes and results of my quarterly earnings experiment and its conclusion. Finally, I will offer a summary and conclusion as to the validity of the semi-strong form of the efficient market hypothesis.B.S. (Bachelor of Science