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This paper examines the long-term relationship between BRICS and US stock markets by employing the cointegration technique and Granger causality to investigate the cointegration and causality direction in the capital markets. The impulse response function it is also employed to evaluate the persistence of the shocks. In the analysis, daily spot stock index returns are used from 2010 till 2017. The main findings of the cointegration analysis indicate that the US and BRICS stock markets are cointegrated and at least one cointegration vector exists among them. The Granger causality test shows that unidirectional causality runs from the US market towards the Russian, South African and Indian stock markets, while there is a bidirectional causal relation between US and Brazil stock markets.

This study identifies the dividend policy determinants of banks and other financial institutions listed on Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) for a period from 2009 to 2015 through studying the impact on eight factors on banks’ dividends per share. Three models were adopted to investigate the determinants of the dividend policy and the factors that affect a bank’s decision to pay out dividends. The findings indicate that the previous year’s dividends per share, earnings per share, cash flow per share, firm size and return on average equity are positively related to the current year’s dividends per share, as hypothesized. The study shows that the leverage position, bank’s life cycle and growth opportunities are negatively related to the dividend payment. The study also reveals that banks and financial institutions in Qatar do a bit of “earnings smoothing” when comparing the earnings figures with the cash flow.