Short Term Momentum Profits and Their Source

The main objective of this paper is to seek the source that can explain the momentum profits because the source of momentum profits has been disputed. The secondary objective of the paper is to affirm the findings of pervious authors about the presence of short term momentum effect and reaffirm the notion that CAPM cannot explain momentum profits supported by large number of authors. For the primary objective, a set of variables has been chosen, that fall under the category of “Business Indicators”, to explain the momentum profits. It is found that a variable “Starting a Business” could explain the source of momentum profits whereas other variables may have negligible or no influence over momentum profits. It is also reaffirmed that short term momentum effect has been found in the 14 stock markets and CAPM could not explain the momentum profits. This study is not conclusive due to limitation of data but it does give a source of momentum profits and sheds light on future research about the sources that can explain momentum profits in great detail.

Dr. Petr Polak has been Associate Professor in Finance at the University of Brunei Darussalam since 2010. Abdullah Ejaz has been Ph.D. candidate at the University of Brunei Darussalam since 2012. In 2011 he completed his master studies at Swansea University (UK).