How stocks move after “downgraded” headlines
Analyst downgrades as they hit the wire. Every single-ticker headline on the Quantisnow wire containing “downgraded” in the last 12 months, measured to the next close.
Free examples:FDA approvalpublic offeringbuybackreverse stock splitupgradeddowngradedPhase 3partnership
After 3,646 headlines containing “downgraded” (3,330 distinct stock-sessions), the stock moved -3.39% on average by the next close (median -1.69%), and closed higher 25% of the time.
Average move
-3.39%
Next close vs prior close
Median move
-1.69%
Closed higher
25%
Share of stock-sessions
Avg absolute move
4.75%
Volatility around the headline
Sample
3,330
Stock-sessions from 3,646 headlines
Average vs SPY
-3.46%
Move minus SPY same session
5-session average
-3.28%
Median -1.76%, 3,255 headlines
How often it shows up
Per day
10.0
Per month
305
Per year
3,659
Distribution of next-close moves
- Below -10%9%
- -10% to -5%12%
- -5% to -2%24%
- -2% to 0%29%
- 0% to +2%17%
- +2% to +5%6%
- +5% to +10%2%
- Above +10%1%
Recent headlines
Methodology
- Headlines: every press release, analyst rating and news item tagged to exactly one listed company on the Quantisnow wire in the last 12 months. SEC filing notices and multi-company items are left out.
- Matching: the keyword must appear in the headline as a phrase, case-insensitive, starting at a word boundary. Words under three letters and very common words (the, of, for) only count inside a longer phrase.
- Move: the closing price of the first regular session that closed after the headline hit the wire, against the prior session's close. A pre-market headline is measured on that day, one after 4pm ET on the next session. The 5-session move uses the close four sessions later against the same base.
- Prices: daily consolidated (SIP) bars adjusted for splits and spin-offs. Moves beyond +/-300% are dropped as bad prints. Dividends are not included. A move reflects everything that happened that session, not just the headline.
- Several matching headlines on the same stock before the same close (a proposed offering and its pricing, say) count as one stock-session in the move statistics. Frequency counts every headline, over the days the dataset covers.