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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (45655)	12/26/2001 3:00:14 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 65232

U.S. companies' insider selling jumps in November NEW YORK, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Company executives in November sold about 50 percent more shares of their companies than in October as insider sentiment has not improved much from the low level of the past two years, new figures showed on Wednesday. The dollar value sell/buy ratio, a measure of how many dollars' worth of shares are sold by insiders for each dollar bought, rose 30 percent to $14.80 in November from $11.37 in October, according to Lancer Analytics, a division of Thomson Financial. Insider selling rose 52 percent to $3.2 billion in November from $2.1 billion in October, while insider buying increased 17 percent to $217 million from $185 million. ``This jump (in selling) was to be anticipated considering that many insiders are normally restricted from selling in October as they await third-quarter earnings announcements,'' said Lon Gerber, director of research at Lancer Analytics. The amount of buying, although the second-highest monthly volume this year, remains below the five-year monthly average of $301 million, Gerber said. ``Looking ahead to December, we expect sentiment to improve as insiders often delay selling until the following year as a means to defer potential capital gains liability,'' Gerber said. Over the past eight years, the level of insider selling in December has always declined from November, normally in excess of 40 percent, while the level of buying tends to spike up, often to a yearly high, Gerber said. ``The increase in December buying can be attributable to insiders looking to buy shares prior to any year-end or early-year rally in stocks,'' Gerber said. INSIDER TIPS Investors view the aggregate level of buying by insiders, who have the best access to information on their companies' prospects, as an indicator of market sentiment. Insiders presumably buy shares when they consider them a bargain relative to their future prospects. In nearly all sectors, including finance, healthcare and consumer services, insider trading mimicked the overall market with increases in both selling and buying. In the technology space, however, insider selling rose 170 percent to $1 billion while buying, in contrast to the overall market, fell 8 percent to $34 million. Investors looking for tips from corporate executives buying their own stocks in November may want to look at companies including Western Wireless (NasdaqNM:WWCA - news), Constellation Energy (NYSE:CEG - news), Williams Cos. (NYSE:WMB - news), and Dominion Resources (NYSE:D - news). Insiders were selling shares of retailers including Lands' End (NYSE:LE - news), TJX (NYSE:TJX - news), and Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW - news). biz.yahoo.com