I'll bet your broker has a bad case of B.O. right now.

'Buying opportunity!'

The market, which bounced a little Tuesday, is down about 15% from the April highs. So it's time to buy, right? I mean, at this point shares have to be cheap, yes?

You know the drill: 'Stay the course...long-term goals...discipline...equities always outperform...you can't time the market...'

It's true prices have come down quite a ways. And yes, there are reasonable values out there-especially among some of the blue chips, and notably in Europe. Even the gloomiest fund manager, concedes markets look 'a little oversold' right now.

But here's a question for your broker-the one with the B.O.

If shares are so cheap, how come more company insiders aren't buying them?

'Insider sentiment is once again bearish,' notes the latest report from Vickers Stock Research, which tracks buying and selling by company directors and executives. The insider buys vs. insider sells ratio moved 'decisively' bearish last week after a brief, one-week bounce, it adds. Even after weeks of share price falls, insiders are sitting on their hands, it says.

During the biggest buying opportunities of the past decade executives have been eager buyers of stocks in their own companies. That was true in the panic after 9/11, during the market crises of 2002-3, and of course during the collapse of 2008-9.

Right now? Not so much.

Over the past eight weeks, says Vickers, insider stock sales have outweighed purchases by about three to one. That's roughly in line with the eight-week moving average over the 2003-7 bull market, and far, far below the average since.

The figure isn't disastrously bearish. But it's hardly bullish. And it hardly suggests the market is on sale, even after the recent slump.

It isn't the only cautious sign, either.

The weekly leading economic indicator published by the Economic Cycle Research Institute has just plummeted faster than it did during the 2008 crash.The highly-regarded ECRI indicator draws on an array of economic data, from growth to inflation to prices, in an attempt to predict the next moves in the economy.

Research by strategists at SG Securities in London also reveals that even equity analysts are starting to get worried. Their optimism on earnings-defined as the ratio of earnings upgrades to downgrades-has plunged in the last six or so weeks, SG reports.

And it's not as if stocks are cheap by other measures either. The cyclically-adjusted price-to-earnings ratio on the stock market remains at around 20, according to data published by Yale University professor Robert Shiller. That's very high by historic standards. The average, stretching back to the Victorian era, is about 16, he says.

It never does to get too gloomy or too cheerful about markets. Six weeks ago investors were far too cheerful. The too gloomy moment has not arrived.