Fig. 2 shows that the market skewness and average stock skewness have different patterns and are, in general, asynchronous. The market skewness is negative on average and lies within a relatively wide range of values (between and 1). The average skewness is generally positive, with values between 0 and 0.1. This evidence, confirmed in Table 1 (Panel A), suggests that periods exist when the average skewness and the market skewness are of opposite signs. For instance, the most positive market skewness value (in 1985) is accompanied by a moderate level of average skewness. Periods with persistently positive average skewess (1963–1974 and 1992–2001) were accompanied by a predominantly negative market skewness. Albuquerque (2012) proposes a theoretical explanation for the different signs of skewness at firm and market levels. That is, positive skewness in individual stock returns is due to the positive correlation between expected returns and volatility (risk-return trade-off), and negative market skewness arises from cross-sectional heterogeneity in firms’ earnings announcement events.