Do you think they might know something :)

DETROIT, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Nearly 20 General Motors Corp. executives sold more than $20 million worth of stock in the automaker last month when the stock price surged to new highs, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Big sellers included Executive Vice President Louis Hughes, who sold 90,086 shares worth $8.2 million at prices of $90.14 and $90.50 on January 29. Most of the shares were purchased for $39.87 each, SEC documents show. Ronald Zarrella, president of GM's North American operations, sold more than $3 million worth of stock at a price of $89.63. Purchase prices for the stock ranged from $34.40 to $48.16 a share. GM's stock price closed at $84-11/16, down $1-4/16.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), February 11, 1999

Answers

Is this an unusual move? With the global-economy (NWO Commerce Department...) looking pretty bad, maybe they just want to cash-out at a peak.

At my job, I track "bad things happening" (can't be more specific and remain anonymous). A key item in related statistical studies is "base-line bad things happening". Applying this to business, there are always people cashing-out at a peak. Is the GM news "statistically significant" from an historical perspective?

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@anonymous.com), February 11, 1999.

Insider sales are a leading indicator, but most writers feel that they are not nearly as strong an indicator as are insider buys. The main reason for this is that an insider only buys if he feels the stock price is going up. There can be many reasons for insider sales. Of course one reason could be that the insiders feel that the stock priceis going down, but there are many other considerations such as taxes, portfolio diversification, better opportunities elsewhere, etc., etc. In examining the context of a sale, you need to know the total holdings by that person, the general net worth of the indivicual, his rank in the company, his history of buying and selling, and,of course, it would help to know his reason for selling but we can only guess at that in most cases.

Insider sales can be a very important indicator, but you need a lot of information to put things in context.

BTW, I have no comment one way or the other on the GM sales discussed above.

-- Puddintame (dit@dot.com), February 11, 1999.

Sheeze, with their 2 billion LOC problem, embedded systems, and perhaps 100,000 suppliers - all of which they found out about fall '97 - I fail to understand at all why _anyone would still have GM stock. But then I thought y2k would become a '98 election issue with a lot of people aware by now.

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), February 11, 1999.

I believe Kevin was going to keep track of CIO's bailing out and the like (selling stock options?)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), February 11, 1999.

Andy, I wouldn't attach too much importance to this, unless a lot are selling most or all.

To make money in market, you don't just buy and hold. You sell a little at a perceived high, buy some back at a perceived low. Rinse and repeat.

Market is high now. A pullback or crash could occur any time, with or without Y2K. Like I said, if a lot of them are selling a lot, would I attach any importance to it.

-- A (A@AisA.com), February 11, 1999.