We use cookies (including third-party cookies such as Google) to remember your site preferences and to help us understand how visitors use our sites so we can improve them. To learn more, please see our privacy policy and our cookie policy.

To agree to our use of cookies, click 'Accept' or choose 'Options' to set your preferences by cookie type.

Options Accept
BullionVault

CHARTS

  • English
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Polski
  • 日本語
  • 简体中文
  • 繁體中文
  • Daily audit
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Deposit
  • Login
  • Open account
  • ABOUT US
    • About BullionVault
    • In the press
    • Reviews
    BUY/SELL BULLION
    • Vaulted gold & silver
    • -Live order board
    • -Daily Price
    • Coins for delivery (UK)
    INVESTMENT GUIDE
    • Guide to gold
    • -How to buy gold
    • -Gold investment
    • -Gold investment plan
    • -Investment insurance
    • -Compare asset performance
    • Guide to silver
    • -How to buy silver
    • Guide to platinum
    • -How to buy platinum
    GOLD NEWS
    • Gold news front page
    • -Gold price news
    • -Opinion & analysis
    • -Market fundamentals
    • -Gold/Silver Investor Index
    • -Infographics
    CHARTS
    • Gold price
    • Silver price
    • Platinum price
    • Price alerts
  • Login
  • Open account
  • BUY/SELL BULLION
  • Vaulted gold & silver
    • ⤷
    • Live order board
    • Daily Price
  • Coins for delivery (UK)
  • INVESTMENT GUIDE
  • Guide to gold
    • ⤷
    • How to buy gold
    • Gold investment
    • Gold investment plan
    • Investment insurance
    • Compare asset performance
  • Guide to silver
    • ⤷
    • How to buy silver
  • Guide to platinum
    • ⤷
    • How to buy platinum
  • GOLD NEWS
  • Gold news front page
    • ⤷
    • Gold price news
    • Opinion & analysis
    • Market fundamentals
    • Gold/Silver Investor Index
    • Infographics
  • CHARTS
  • Gold price
  • Silver price
  • Platinum price
  • Price alerts
  • ABOUT US
  • About BullionVault
  • In the press
  • Reviews
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Daily audit
    • English
    • Deutsch
    • Español
    • Français
    • Italiano
    • Polski
    • 日本語
    • 简体中文
    • 繁體中文

Gold News

Live support

NEED HELP? ASK US NOW

Search form

Gold News front page

Gold Price News

Gold 'Shall Rise in 2021' as Yellen Vows to 'Act Big' But 'Inflation Is Dead' as Covid Crisis Worsens

More...

Gold Investing In Depth

Learn about gold bullion bars

Learn about gold bullion coins (and costs)

Gold investment: Why & how?

Gold Investment Analysis

  • Latest Gold Investor Index
  • Diversification: Gold as investment insurance
  • 40-year Asset Performance Comparison Table

Gold Articles

Opinion & Analysis

Gold Price News

Investment News

Gold in History

Gold Books

Gold Investor Index

Gold Infographics

Archive

  • January 2021 (14)
  • December 2020 (24)
  • November 2020 (23)
  • October 2020 (25)
  • September 2020 (25)
More...

List of authors

Insiders Sell, Time to Rebalance

Thursday, 10/03/2019 12:14
Director dealings show nerves...
 
ONE informal indicator market watchers like to keep an eye on is 'director dealings', writes John Stepek at MoneyWeek.
 
When a director buys or sells a significant chunk of shares in the company they work for, it always draws attention. After all, who is better placed to know a company's prospects than those who run it?
 
This is why "insiders" are only allowed to buy and sell shares in their own firms at certain times – eg, a CEO can't buy or sell in the run-up to their annual results coming out (this is known as a "closed period").
 
Big buys by an insider are obviously bullish. Big sales don't look so good. Yes, they might be needed to resolve a divorce or a tax bill, but it's rarely good news to see top managers baling out of their own stock.
 
So it's a bit worrying that sales by "insiders" across equity markets as a whole are now running at their highest rate in 20 years, according to data from Smart Insider, reported in the Financial Times.
 
So far this year, insiders have sold around $19bn-worth of equity in their companies. If this continues until the end of the year, they'll have offloaded $26bn. That would be the highest annual total since 2000, when the technology bubble peaked – back then, insiders dumped $37bn of stock.
 
Insider sales then peaked again in 2007, just ahead of the global financial crisis. This latter high wasn't surpassed again until 2017.
 
Taken individually, these sales aren't necessarily due to bearishness. For example, more than $2bn (ie, more than 10%) in sales came from the Walton family, founders of US retail giant Walmart. This appears to be for primarily technical reasons: they're not selling because they think Walmart is in trouble – they're selling to prevent their percentage stake in the group from rising further due to share buybacks.
 
However, other research also hints that wealthy people are taking money off the table. The latest UBS Global Family Office Report (in association with Campden Research) found that a majority of family offices (each managing an average of more than $900m) reckon there will be a recession next year, while nearly half are boosting the amount of cash they hold, reports Bloomberg. And last month, a report from TrimTabs Investment Research found that in August, insiders sold more than "they have at any other point during the bull market, which began in March 2009", notes CNN.
 
In short, insiders aren't happy. It doesn't mean a crash is imminent, but if you haven't rebalanced your portfolio in a while, consider whether it's time to take profits on any holdings that have grown out of line with your original asset allocation and perhaps top up your own cash reserves.
  • Reddit logo
  • Facebook logo
  • Twitter logo
  • Google logo
  • Yahoo logo
  • LinkedIn logo
  • Digg logo
  • StumbleUpon logo
  • Technorati logo

Launched alongside the UK's highly popular The Week digest of global and national news in 2001, MoneyWeek magazine mixes a concise reading of the latest financial events with expert comment and investment ideas.

Please Note: All articles published here are to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it. Please review our Terms & Conditions for accessing Gold News.

Follow Us

Facebook Youtube Twitter LinkedIn

 

Mobile apps

 - live trading 24/7

 - buy & sell instantly

 - up-to-the-second charts

 

 

 

Daily news email
Go to 'communications settings' 

Get the latest daily gold price news free by email

Latest gold news by email

 

 

 

Gold Investor Index
5 January 2020

Gold Investor Index

Gold investing +58% in NY21

 

 

 

LBMA webinar
21 January 2021

LBMA

London gold trading

 

 

 

International
Investment

16 December 2020

Gold 2021

Gold in 2021

 

 

 

LBMA Alchemist
1 December 2020

Newton

True Gold/Silver Ratio

 

 

 

  •  Email us

Market Fundamentals

  • 'Cut Bullion Duty to Cut Smuggling': India's Gold Industry
  • Platinum Price Hits 4-Year High Even as Electric Beats Diesel Cars in Europe
  • Record Investing Pushes 'Industrial' Silver and Platinum into Deep Deficits
More...
  • Cost calculator
  • Cookies
  • Terms & conditions

©BullionVault Ltd 2005-

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Save your cookie preferences

We use cookies to remember your site preferences, record your referrer and improve the performance of our site. For more information, see our cookie policy.

Please select an option below and 'Save' your preferences.

Save

You can update your cookie preferences at any time from the 'Cookies' link in the footer.

Secure auto-logout warning

You have not been active for some time.

For your security you will be logged out in   minutes unless you take action.