COVID-19 Pandemic: How Important is Face-to-Face Interaction for Information Dissemination?

We examine the influence of mobility on the stock market reaction around earnings announcements during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has led to abrupt implementation of stay-at-home mandatory restrictions and social distancing requirements all around the world, resulting in the collapse of face-to-face interactions on a large scale. Using Google’s Community Mobility Reports to obtain daily, county-level mobility of U.S. residents, we find that firms located in counties with higher mobility experience stronger immediate price responses during earnings announcements and weaker post-announcement drift, suggesting that COVID-19 restrictions dampen price discovery in financial markets. We also show that investor attention is a potential mechanism by which mobility affects the market reaction. Together, our study finds empirical support for the importance of face-to-face interactions in facilitating stock market information.