Determinants of interest rate spreads of conventional banks listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange

This study aims to investigate the effect of macroeconomic factors on Palestine and Amman Stock Exchange returns. Also, the study handles the political events in the area and their impact on Palestine and Amman stock markets returns. This study applied the macro-econometric model based on Arbitrage Pricing Theory. In addition, the most important political events are selected, and their effect was tested using the event study methodology. The results show that the consumer price index, gross domestic product, and exchange rate have a significant impact on stock index returns, but industrial production index and balance of trade have no significant effect. In addition, the results reveal that the political events have a significant effect on Palestine and Amman stock markets returns. For instance, at Palestine Stock Exchange, seven out of eleven events had a significant impact on the Palestinian general index returns. Regarding the Amman Stock Exchange, there were nine out of eleven events, which had a significant impact on the Jordanian general index returns. The main results show that the macroeconomic factors and political events have a significant impact on the Palestine and Amman stock market returns. Both Palestine and Amman Stock Markets are inefficient and the markets do not absorb uncertain information and noisy events.

The determinants of bank profitability are very important, as bank profitability significantly affects the economies of countries. This study aims to examine the internal determinants (bank-specific characteristics) and external determinants (macroeconomic factors and government variables) of bank profitability in Iraq. The study uses unbalanced panel data from 18 banks in Iraq for thirteen years, from 2005 to 2017. The relationship is estimated using a fixed effects approach. The study selected 18 conventional banks considering their data availability in the period from 2005 to 2017. Based on the panel data method, the results show that bank size, the equity to total assets and total loans to total assets ratios, GDP growth, and government effectiveness have a significant and positive impact on the profitability of Iraqi banks. Meanwhile, credit risk, inflation, interest rate, unemployment, and political instability have a significant negative influence on bank profitability. To the authors’ knowledge, this study is considered one of the earliest studies of its kind, in which the main factors affecting Iraqi bank profitability are determined. That said, this paper makes a significant contribution to the theoretical literature, the industry, and policymakers, so that the performance of Iraqi conventional banks can be improved.

Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support from Ministry of Higher Education in Iraq, University of Kerbala, AL-Furat AL-Awsat Technical University, and Imam AL-Kadhum College for Islamic Studies. Furthermore, we appreciate the support by Prof. Dr. Sivarajasingham Selliah, Assistant Prof. Dr. Muhammad Abrar Ul Haq, and Dr. Mohammed Hasan.

This investigation studies the impact of mutual fund herding on the returns achieved by contrarian strategy from 1990 to 2015 in the Chinese stock market. The relationship between the profit gained by the contrarian strategy and the macroeconomic environment is also examined. First, the returns of the contrarian strategy in China’s stock market are found to be significant. Second, most loser stocks with a high degree of mutual fund herding outperform loser stocks with a low degree of mutual fund herding, revealing that the profitability of an investment portfolio depends on the degree of mutual fund herding. Third, investors should buy loser stocks with a high degree of herding and sell winner stocks with a low degree of herding during a two-year formation period, over which zero-cost contrarian strategies yield the significantly highest return. Finally, the payoff of contrarian strategies is positively related to the herding effect and negatively related to macroeconomic variables.