Baidu News and the return volatility of Chinese commodity futures: evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesis

Abstract This study uses Baidu News data and introduces a novel proxy for the rate of information flow to examine its relationship with return volatility in Chinese commodity futures and to test two competing hypotheses. We examine the contemporaneous relationships using correlation coefficient anal...

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Main Authors: Ruwei Zhao, Xiong Xiong, Junjun Ma, Yuzhao Zhang, Yongjie Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-02-01
Series:Financial Innovation
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-025-00753-4
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author Ruwei Zhao
Xiong Xiong
Junjun Ma
Yuzhao Zhang
Yongjie Zhang
author_facet Ruwei Zhao
Xiong Xiong
Junjun Ma
Yuzhao Zhang
Yongjie Zhang
author_sort Ruwei Zhao
collection DOAJ
description Abstract This study uses Baidu News data and introduces a novel proxy for the rate of information flow to examine its relationship with return volatility in Chinese commodity futures and to test two competing hypotheses. We examine the contemporaneous relationships using correlation coefficient analysis, and find apparent differences between the information flow-return volatility relationship and the information flow-trading volume relationship. The empirical evidence contradicts the mixture of distribution hypothesis (MDH) and suggests that the rate of information flow distinctly affects trading volume and volatility. We conducted linear and nonlinear Granger causality tests to explore the sequential information arrival hypothesis (SIAH). The empirical results prove that a lead-lag linear and nonlinear causality exists between the information flow and return volatility of commodity futures, which is consistent with SIAH. In other words, a partial equilibrium exists before reaching the ultimate equilibrium when the new information arrives in the market. Finally, these findings are robust to alternative measurement of return volatility and subperiod analysis. Our findings reject the MDH and support the SIAH in the context of Chinese commodity futures.
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issn 2199-4730
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publishDate 2025-02-01
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series Financial Innovation
spelling doaj-art-a4bc87e92018459ab39797914d02f6ec2025-08-20T02:48:30ZengSpringerOpenFinancial Innovation2199-47302025-02-0111112410.1186/s40854-025-00753-4Baidu News and the return volatility of Chinese commodity futures: evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesisRuwei Zhao0Xiong Xiong1Junjun Ma2Yuzhao Zhang3Yongjie Zhang4Business School, University of JinanCollege of Management and Economics, Tianjin UniversityCollege of Economics and Management, Beijing University of TechnologySchool of Finance, Nanjing University of Finance and EconomicsCollege of Management and Economics, Tianjin UniversityAbstract This study uses Baidu News data and introduces a novel proxy for the rate of information flow to examine its relationship with return volatility in Chinese commodity futures and to test two competing hypotheses. We examine the contemporaneous relationships using correlation coefficient analysis, and find apparent differences between the information flow-return volatility relationship and the information flow-trading volume relationship. The empirical evidence contradicts the mixture of distribution hypothesis (MDH) and suggests that the rate of information flow distinctly affects trading volume and volatility. We conducted linear and nonlinear Granger causality tests to explore the sequential information arrival hypothesis (SIAH). The empirical results prove that a lead-lag linear and nonlinear causality exists between the information flow and return volatility of commodity futures, which is consistent with SIAH. In other words, a partial equilibrium exists before reaching the ultimate equilibrium when the new information arrives in the market. Finally, these findings are robust to alternative measurement of return volatility and subperiod analysis. Our findings reject the MDH and support the SIAH in the context of Chinese commodity futures.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-025-00753-4Baidu NewsChinese commodity futuresReturn volatilitySequential information arrival hypothesisMixture of distribution hypothesis
spellingShingle Ruwei Zhao
Xiong Xiong
Junjun Ma
Yuzhao Zhang
Yongjie Zhang
Baidu News and the return volatility of Chinese commodity futures: evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesis
Financial Innovation
Baidu News
Chinese commodity futures
Return volatility
Sequential information arrival hypothesis
Mixture of distribution hypothesis
title Baidu News and the return volatility of Chinese commodity futures: evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesis
title_full Baidu News and the return volatility of Chinese commodity futures: evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesis
title_fullStr Baidu News and the return volatility of Chinese commodity futures: evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesis
title_full_unstemmed Baidu News and the return volatility of Chinese commodity futures: evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesis
title_short Baidu News and the return volatility of Chinese commodity futures: evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesis
title_sort baidu news and the return volatility of chinese commodity futures evidence for the sequential information arrival hypothesis
topic Baidu News
Chinese commodity futures
Return volatility
Sequential information arrival hypothesis
Mixture of distribution hypothesis
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-025-00753-4
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