7 - Diversity of Corporate Uncertainty Events

Summary

This chapter introduces the KU Diversity, or Variation, Index which considers to what degree there are different unscheduled corporate event groups occurring simultaneously during a particular subperiod of time in the stock market and how this composition changes over time. The top ten groups of unscheduled KU events will be ranked across each of the four five-year subperiods over the full data sample based on proportion of total corporate KU events. Changes in composition and ranking of the groupings will be discussed. Detailed descriptions of each novel event category within the highest ranked groups are provided. Case studies of three large-cap US firms are presented during the dramatically volatile days of March 2020 corresponding to the COVID-19 crisis to illustrate the importance of unscheduled corporate events, particularly in times of market turmoil and instability. Correlation coefficients across KU indices suggest that when novel corporate events increase in raw terms so does the clustering of KU events by group, implying that narrative dynamics may be unfolding.