Abstract

This paper contributes to the behavioural finance literature that examines the asset pricing impact of mood altering events such as sports results, sunshine levels, daylight hours, public holidays, temperature etc. Specifically, we investigate whether variations in investor mood arising from wins and losses in major sporting events have an impact on stock market returns. We examine the case of Ireland. Ireland is an interesting case because its people are passionate about sport, the domestic population is relatively homogenous (rather than divided) in terms of support for Irish competitors in international competition and domestic investors comprise a large proportion of owners of Irish stocks—all factors which suggest that if a mood effect exists it should show up in this case. Generally, we do not find a strong link between sport results and stock market returns. Initial results do suggest that in events of particularly high importance, such as the knock-out stages of major competitions, losses are associated with negative returns. However, on controlling for indirect economic effects of sporting wins and losses such as on tourism and travel we find the mood effect is no longer significant.

JEL Classification: G10, G14