Retail Investor Sentiment and Behavior– an Empirical Analysis

This citation by Robert Neal and Simon Wheatley from their 1998 article about investorsentiment offers several insights and paves the way for this first chapter by making thefollowing statements: First, the opinion of individual investors on the market isimportant. Second, they are often wrong. Third, individual investor sentiment maysupport market timing decisions. Fourth, none of the above is scientifically proven.In this chapter, research about retail investor sentiment in general and the researchquestions addressed in this thesis in particular are motivated. In addition, the structureof the work as well as the main contributions and related publications are presented.