Insiders Spent 2004 on the Sell Side

One of the more interesting developments has been the failure of a big insider purchase made in November by executives at Harvest Natural Resources (HNR Quote).

James Edmiston, Peter Hill and Kerry Brittain combined to buy almost $400,000 worth of Harvest shares in November at around $15, but it seems they were overly optimistic on their prospects to continue to drill in Venezuela. Today the company announced it had failed to obtain necessary permits from the country's Socialist regime, and the stock plunged 29% to $12.00.

For the start of 2005, William Lyon's $43 million purchase on Jan. 7 of the shares of his homebuilding company, William Lyons Co. (WLS Quote), has been the biggest buy.

Insiders generally know their companies better than the public, so the strong 2004 trend toward heavy sales is one more troubling hurdle that the bulls will need to surmount to get the new market off the mat.