Google searches around analyst recommendation revision announcements: Evidence from the Taiwan stock market

We investigate the impact of Google search volume on stock prices and trading volume around recommendation revision announcements made by securities firms in the Taiwan stock market. Our results reveal that for upgrade announcements, the internet searches that are driven by investor attention lead to a temporary increase in positive price pressure around the revision announcements, whereas the price effect of the information extracted from the Google searches is persistent. We also find that trading volume reflects the incoming news around the revision announcements. Our results suggest that individual investors, who receive analyst revision reports gratis from securities firms before these reports are made public, will search through the Internet to obtain valid firm-specific information relating to the recommendation revisions.