Will stock rise on Valentine’s Day?

Abstract

PurposeThis study is a pioneer in the academic literature to investigate the relationship between Valentine’s Day and stock market returns of major economies around the world.Design/methodology/approachSpecific control variables for Valentine's Day are introduced to eliminate the potential influence of other effects.FindingsThe findings indicate that stock returns are higher on the days when Valentine's Day is approaching than on other days for most cases, showing “the Valentine Effect” in the stock market.Originality/valueUnlike other holiday effects in the previous literature, the Valentine's Day effect cannot be explained by many conventional theories, such as tax-loss selling and the inventory adjustment hypothesis.