A complicated story on a Friday afternoon is most-likely to be ignored
A Chicago PhD student published a working paper on the timing and presentation of news releases that comes as no surprise to me.
"Investors are significantly more attracted to short and simple titles," writes Chicago Booth PhD candidate Tarik Umar. The effect is pronounced on slow news days, when the volatility index is low, and on afternoons and Fridays. "Cognitive effort affects market behavior, even for investors in a high-stakes setting with strong interests in stock specific news."
He generally looked at headline length and complexity by testing Seeking Alpha headlines and scanning earnings press releases.
Anecdotally, I see time and time again how the market is slow to digest news late in the day, on holidays and on Fridays. It takes some conviction to buy a headline at those times when the market isn't moving quickly before for a retail trader, it's one of the few times where you can get an edge.
