Sean Magee

The influence of news on stock prices

Started Dec. 21, 2022

Abstract or project description

Sean will write a hypothesis driven paper that investigates the influences of news on stock prices. The company that will be a proxy will be Apple and benchmarked to his control, the S&P500. Through the use of both quantitative and qualitative analysis he will determine whether there is an influence of news affecting stock price or if stock price is primarily driven from other variables such as earnings and the fundamental reports. The analysis will require him to collect primary data from the Wall Street Journal as well as perform interviews.

Apple is one of the biggest contributors in the S&P 500, and as a result, receives a lot of media attention. Hundreds of news articles are written everyday regarding different analyses and opinions. The goal of this paper is to determine whether or not these daily sentiments have an effect on the variability of not only AAPL but also the S&P 500. The use of analyzing the relationship between news vs stock price with AAPL is a proxy, contrasting the benchmark of the S&P 500. Utilizing the S&P 500 as a baseline allows for a better understanding of the previously mentioned relationship we are measuring. In this research paper, through the use of WSJ article data and interviews, we will find if the variability of a stock relates in part to news pieces, or due to other factors such as company fundamental reports and earning reports, coupled with market stability and relative direction. These quantitative and qualitative means of analysis will shed a deeper light onto this broad topic.