Realised Volatility Forecasting: Machine Learning via Financial Word Embedding
We examine whether financial news can improve realised volatility forecasting using a parsimonious NLP-based framework that incorporates specialised financial word embeddings alongside general-purpose alternatives. News-only forecasts contain useful predictive information but generally do not outperform strong volatility-history benchmarks. Crucially, combining stock-related news forecasts with a strong volatility-history benchmark lowers forecast losses for several specifications and increases realised utility, providing evidence consistent with forecast complementarity. Performance varies across news types, embedding representations, and volatility regimes. SHAP attributions associate forecast variation with economically interpretable firm-specific and macroeconomic news themes.