Some confusing figures from Deutsche Borse Group.

In its new survey of what senior European executives are doing with stock in their own companies, DB shows what appear to be upside-down data.

As we all know, north-European EU States appear to be in better shape than southern European members like Greece, Spain and Portugal.

However, 70% of all those buying into their own companies come from the Latin end of the continent. Whereas 70% of those selling come from the Hun territories to the north.

I’ll tell you what I think this means. Shrewd managers in the South understand all too well that Government fiscal problems can downgrade private sector share prices…often with no justification at all. Ergo, a good time for Luigi, Stavros and Felipe to buy.

And the same realists in the North know it’s all going tits up sooner or later, and no matter how chirpy Geli Merkel sounds, they’d rather invest the money in assets and precious metals….and then buy some Marks with the profits before everything turns entirely to Der Meier.

Once Hedge Funds get greedy and start targeting governments, smart company managers can hide in the herd. If you’re making high-quality pcs in Spain and some jerk in Ohio is about to mark you down, why would you not buy your own stock?

And if you were an overpriced German carmaker dreading Asian competition in a market already flatlining, why would you not sell that worthless paper?

The people at the sharp end are usually more realistic and more entrepreneurial. It pays to monitor what they do.