The Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on Investor Sentiment—Evidence From A-Share Listed Companies in China

Abstract

In a DID model, this study examines the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the investor sentiment in the financial market of China using monthly panel data on newly listed Chinese companies between October 2019 and June 2020. The outbreak of the pandemic is shown to exert a significant negative impact on investor sentiment. A future industry heterogeneity analysis shows that the pandemic has driven up investor sentiment in the pharmaceutical sector while having a significantly negative impact on non-pharmaceutical sectors. The pandemic is shown to have a negative impact on the private sector and foreign-invested sector in China while a significantly positive impact on the state-owned sector. This study contributes to the existing literature on the investigation of how significant the impact of public health emergencies on investor sentiment is.