Financial attitude influences the financial behavior of retail investors. Although the extant research has acknowledged and examined this relationship, the measures of financial attitude and behavior still vary widely and are generally posed as a series of questions rather than statements. In addition to this, there is insufficient knowledge regarding retail investors' behavior in the face of a health crisis, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. This study addresses these gaps in the prior literature by examining the relative influence of six dimensions of financial attitude, namely, financial anxiety, optimism, financial security, deliberative thinking, interest in financial issues, and needs for precautionary savings, on the trading activity of retail investors during the pandemic. Data were collected from 404 respondents and analyzed using the artificial neural network (ANN) method. The results revealed that all six dimensions had a positive influence on trading activity, with interest in financial issues exerting the strongest influence, followed by deliberative thinking. The study thus contributes important inferences for researchers and managers.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the capital structure determinants and speed of adjustment (SOA) toward the target capital structure of firms. Design/methodology/approach The study has used the generalized method of moments (GMM) model and two-stage least squares (TSLS) to the panel data of 3,310 Indian firms, from January 2000 to March 2018, to determine the adjustment speed toward target capital structure. Further, the study employed a fully modified ordinary least square technique to shed light on the dynamic nature of the adjustment process. Findings The results of the GMM estimations indicate that Indian firms are adjusting their capital structure toward the target rate of 10.38 percent per year. Similarly, the findings of TSLS estimate specify a SOA of 15.49 percent per year. The low adjustment speed suggests the prevalence of higher adjustment costs of Indian firms. Research limitations/implications Future research can be undertaken by including certain macroeconomic factors such as GDP, inflation and the interest rate, which also affect the SOA since firms are pretentious by market conditions while designing capital structure for firms. Practical implications In the current financial and regulatory set-up when there are frequent perturbations in the capital market, the study will be valuable for regulators, firms and academicians. The work would enable the concerned stakeholders to manage their scare resources and capital effectively by a better way to make informed decisions. It will facilitate managers of young companies to identify and regulate the factors that are more pertinent for them to make flexible financial decisions concerning the capital structure. Originality/value The study amplifies on previous studies and provides new insights on the speed of the adjustment process of Indian firms, helping to modify and refine their capital structures toward the optimum capital structure. This will not only enhance the financial flexibility in the capital structure of Indian corporates but also be of great value to the policymakers and other stakeholders.

This paper investigated the market efficiency and causal relationship between selected Macroeconomic variables and the Indian stock market during the period January 2005 to February 2011 by using Ljung-Box Q test, Breusch-Godfrey LM test, Unit Root test, Granger Causality test.The study confirms the presence of autocorrelation in the Indian stock market and macro economic variables which implies that the market fell into form of Efficient Market Hypothesis. Further the Granger-causality test shows evidence of bidirectional relationship between interest rate and stock market, exchange rate and stock market, international stock market and BSE volume, exchange rate and BSE volume. So it suggests that any change of exchange rate, interest rate and international market significantly influencing the stock market in the economy and vice versa. The study also reported unidirectional causality running from international stock market to domestic stock market, interest rate, exchange rate and inflation rate indicating sizeable influence in the stock market movement in the considered period. The study points out that the Indian stock market is sensitive towards changing behavior of international market, exchange rate and interest rate in the economy and they can be used to predict stock market price fluctuations.

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