This paper investigates the ability of the average asym- metry in individual stock returns to predict subsequentmarket returns. The role of the asymmetry of a distribution (or skewness) can be interpreted according to two com- plementary views. On the one hand, a negative skewness measures the risk of large negative realizations and can be viewed as a source of tail risk ( Kelly and Jiang, 2014; Bollerslev et al., 2015 ) or crash risk ( Kozhan et al., 2012 ). On the other hand, preference for skewness captures the gambling nature of investors ( Barberis and Huang, 2008; Bordalo et al., 2012 ). For both of these reasons, investor decisions are likely to be highly sensitive to the level of skewness ( Mitton and Vorkink, 20 07; Kumar, 20 09 ). The importance of skewness in investor preferences was introduced as an extension to the standard capital asset pricing model (CAPM). Acknowledging that investors have a preference for positively skewed securities, the three- moment CAPM provides the equilibrium implications of the preference for skewness. Because idiosyncratic, or firm- specific, risk can be diversified away, only the systematic component of skewness (i.e., the co-skewness of a firm’s