Insider Trading Question

[TxSteve]

thanks.

I'm just trying to figure out what constitutes insider trading.

I'll give 2 other examples that I did not take advantage of.

1) about a year ago; in a meeting with a pipeline contractor; i stop into another guys office that i know. he is the public relations guy for investors. He mentions that "work is stressful as he's going to have to announce tomorrow that earnings aren't as much as they had forecast". Had I shorted; would that have been insider trading?


2) taking a tour of a new natural gas processing facility where I'm told this facility is going to open in a few months and that the new technology they are using to process the LNG hasn't been made public yet; but expect big things out of the company.

obviously i have zero understanding of what constitues insider trading.

(edit) just wanted to add; tyco tried to sell this division 3 years ago and could not find a buyer. the fact that the division was for sale wasn't really my question...but the fact that I knew from insiders that a deal was almost finalized....a few weeks before that info was public.