Market going higher over the next 12 months? Possibly fueled by all the shorts out there...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/09/AR2008020900045.html
"Chief executives, directors and other senior officials in corporate America are buying more of their companies' shares than they're selling for the first time since 1995, prompting growing confidence that the stock market is poised to rally for the rest of the year.
The last seven times insiders bought more stock than they sold, from 1988 to 1995, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rallied an average 21 percent in the following 12 months, according to data compiled by the Washington Service, a Bethesda research firm that tracks insider data for more than 500 mostly institutional clients. The purchases show that executives think the worst may be over after stocks suffered the biggest January drop in 18 years on signs that the economy is in a recession. "
"Total purchases were 1.44 times more than sales, the first time in 13 years that insiders became net buyers. The S&P 500, the benchmark for American equities, hasn't fallen in the 12 months after insiders bought more than they sold, according to Washington Service data that go back 20 years."
"While executives step up buying, short sellers are betting against U.S. firms like never before. The amount of short selling, when traders sell borrowed shares expecting to buy them back after prices fall, grew to 3.7 percent of the total shares on the NYSE last month, the highest since at least 1931."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/09/AR2008020900045.html
"Chief executives, directors and other senior officials in corporate America are buying more of their companies' shares than they're selling for the first time since 1995, prompting growing confidence that the stock market is poised to rally for the rest of the year.
The last seven times insiders bought more stock than they sold, from 1988 to 1995, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rallied an average 21 percent in the following 12 months, according to data compiled by the Washington Service, a Bethesda research firm that tracks insider data for more than 500 mostly institutional clients. The purchases show that executives think the worst may be over after stocks suffered the biggest January drop in 18 years on signs that the economy is in a recession. "
"Total purchases were 1.44 times more than sales, the first time in 13 years that insiders became net buyers. The S&P 500, the benchmark for American equities, hasn't fallen in the 12 months after insiders bought more than they sold, according to Washington Service data that go back 20 years."
"While executives step up buying, short sellers are betting against U.S. firms like never before. The amount of short selling, when traders sell borrowed shares expecting to buy them back after prices fall, grew to 3.7 percent of the total shares on the NYSE last month, the highest since at least 1931."