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Also published in Traders Magazine

We all know what body language is. The classic book Body Language by Julius Fast popularized the topic in 1970 and it has since sold over three million copies.

We all use non-verbal forms of communication with our posture, gestures and facial expressions. Sometimes it’s used consciously and purposefully, such as when a detective interrogates a suspect.  But most often, it’s done subconsciously, like when a hiring manager is assessing a job candidate.

For 14 years, Wall Street Horizon has focused on providing accurate corporate event data – because we know that corporate events impact volatility.  For example, recent independent academic studies have demonstrated that changes in earnings announcement dates can affect alpha. 

Highlights of 2016 Wall Street Horizon research include:

For the past couple weeks I’ve been writing on this blog and in our newsletter about FDA drug approval dates (PDUFA dates) and the impact that these catalysts can have on a drug manufacturer’s stock price.  This week I thought I would let our partner Informa do most of the talking.  And why not, considering their opinions successfully predicted 75% of the catalyst outcomes that occurred in Q4 2015!

Previous research has shown that the attention constraints of human traders (investors and market makers) has lead to systemic effects on stock prices.  The less attention there is on a stock, the less efficient that stock’s price will be to a negative earnings surprise, for example.

As both the American Banker (The Art and Ego of Timing Bank Earnings Releases) and the Wall Street Journal, (Why J.P. Morgan Moved Its Earnings Relase), observed this week, for the first time in a long