09/11/09 Baltimore, Maryland
If you seek the market’s next move, why not ask the CEOs of publicly traded companies? For every $1 of insider stock purchases in August, there was $31 worth of sales, says a report from market researchers TrimTabs. According to the firm, execs at U.S. public companies have been net sellers of $105 billion worth of stock over the last four months. That’s the most aggressive insider selling since the summer of 2007… heh, you know… when most papers were rejoicing “Dow 14,000!”
What’s more, insiders have been spot on so far in 2009. Check out this track record:
We admit there’s a lot more going on here than simple market timing. And of course, many CEOs are no better at managing their own money than they are at running their companies (Greenberg, Fuld, Cayne, etc.). Tracking insider buying and selling sometimes does little more than confirm predispositions.
Disclaimers be damned, the numbers don’t lie… insiders have had a stellar track record so far this year, and right now, they are crowding around the exits. Caveat emptor.
Ian Mathias
Ian Mathias is the managing editor of Agora Financial’s Income Franchise, where he writes and researches about retirement, dividend and fixed income investing. Much of his work is featured in The Daily Reckoning and Lifetime Income Report – Agora Financial’s flagship income investing advisory.
Previously, Ian managed The 5 Min. Forecast, a fun, fast-paced daily look into the future of global markets and macroeconomics. He’s also worked in public relations, where media outlets like Forbes, AP, Yahoo! and MSN Money have syndicated his writing. If he’s not at work, you’ll probably find Ian on a bicycle, racing up and down the “mountains” of Baltimore County. Ian has a BA from Loyola University in Maryland.
The Daily Reckoning is your premier source for making sense of the news Washington and Wall Street generate. Each business day, The Daily Reckoning calls on its stable of world-class writers and thinkers to show you how to get ahead.
Start your 100% FREE subscription to The Daily Reckoning today and you’ll get a free research report, “How to Survive the Fall of Social Security.” Simply enter your email address below to get your free report and join over 495,000 worldwide Daily Reckoning subscribers!
We Respect Your Privacy and We will
Never Share or Sell Your Email Address
looks like september is on pace to exceed august a bit…however, my belief is that it will show acceleration as the buy months showed…
much depends upon how much more qe will ooze out of the bag…
This rally in equities is way over done.
[see insider trades from Trimtabs]
I know we are constrained by Mitre regs. but does Fidelity
have a Gold ETF or similiar where we can take some equitiy profits off the table and park in precious metals.
Recall that bullion # [gold has gone from ~ $750oz to a whisker under $1000.