Analyst Recommendations and Nasdaq Market Making Activity

I investigate the linkage between liquidity provision by Nasdaq market makers and analysts in the same firm. Using three measures of market activity, I find that Nasdaq firms are more likely to provide buy side liquidity in anticipation of upgrades in the period 1999-2000. ECN activity supports this pattern. Firm level evidence shows that 15 of 42 market makers studied engage in significant pre-recommendation activity. I estimate cumulative abnormal returns of more than 75% and profits of almost $600 million in a sample of 47 large capitalization stocks