Selective Disclosure: The Case of Nikkei Preview Articles

Nihon Keizai Shinbun (Nikkei for short) is a leading Japanese daily newspaper specializing in economy and business. It is also the largest vendor of Japanese financial and economic databases. During earnings announcement season, the Nikkei morning edition often publishes “preview” articles that are about companies’ sales and earnings. However, these pre-date the actual company announcements, and forecast more accurately the actual results than the existing forecasts, making the Nikkei forecasts value-relevant information. We identify 2,835 preview articles in the newspaper from 2000 to 2010. We examine the circumstances under which these preview articles are written and the impact they have on the market. Our findings show that stock price reacts positively to positive news but it does not react negatively to negative news. The market reacts to the information even before the preview articles are printed, suggesting some leakage of the information to market participants. The costs and benefits (or incentives) for companies, Nikkei, and investors are investigated using changes in returns and information content around the events. We find a positive correlation between previewing and positive news sentiment.