Abstract
We examine how weather conditions near a firm’s major institutional investors affect stock market reactions to firms’ earnings announcements. We find that unpleasant weather experienced by institutional investors leads to higher earnings announcement premiums and more delayed market responses to earnings news. We interpret the evidence as weather-induced negative moods increasing required compensation for earnings uncertainty and reducing activity levels of institutional investors. The influence of institutional investors’ weather is stronger than that of New York City or firm headquarters weather. Additional cross-sectional evidence suggests that weather mainly influences the trading behavior of less sophisticated institutional investors.