Working Paper

Playing the field: Geomagnetic storms and international stock markets


Abstract: This paper documents the impact of geomagnetic storms (GMS) on world and country-specific stock market returns. For the world index and for most of the international indices in our sample, we find that the previous week's unusually high levels of geomagnetic activity have a negative, statistically and economically significant impact on today's stock returns. Our results are consistent with psychological theories of \"misattribution of mood,\" since GMS have been found to negatively affect people's judgment and behavior.

Keywords: Stock market;

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Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Part of Series: FRB Atlanta Working Paper

Publication Date: 2003

Number: 2003-5