We're set for a slightly down open this morning. We could see some consolidation ahead of a lot of economic data later in the week, including this afternoon's release of the Beige Book.
On Today's Calendar:
- 10:30 -- Crude Inventories
- 2:00 -- Fed's Beige Book
- 3:00 -- Consumer Credit
More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic
Potential swing trades:
See one of the recent 'Chart Reading' posts for some potential swing candidates.
Potential day trades:
(From Briefing.com)
Gapping Down
Gapping down on weak earnings/guidance: EFJI -12.4%, SOLF -8.0%, AEOS -5.7%, POZN -4.4%, HLYS -4.6%... Other news: CVTX -21.8% (announces Merlin TIMI-36 study did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint), PGNX -12.0% (co's phase 2 methylnaltrexone trial did not exhibit sufficient clinical activity to advance into phase 3), CHL -3.2%
Gapping Up
Gapping up on strong earnings/guidance: OPMR +10.4%... Other news: AVRX +28.5% (established drug discovery, development and commercialization collaboration with MRK), TRCA +16.8% (announces settlement with between with Genentech against Insmed), IW +15.0% (announces licensing agreement with Honeywell Security), ENCY +9.4% (Thelin receives Australian marketing approval), TTWO +8.4% (SAC Capital, Oppenheimer, Tudor Investments, others form group in SC 13D filing), NEW +8.4% & NFI +4.4% (select mortgage names seeing strength), ZVUE +6.9%, ENER +4.6% (Jefferies makes positive comments).
Disclaimer & How I use this list
Hi folks,
I'm thinking of switching from my current Discount Broker (Scottrade) to another discount broker in order to save on commissions.
Here are some broker comparisons that factor in cost per trade, credit interst rates on cash balances, and monthly access fees.
I made a little equation to show the cost of 1000 trades per year for an account size of $50,000. Here's the formula:
Cost for 1,000 trades/yr = Commission for 1000 trades - ($50,000 x credit interest on cash balance).
Here is an approximation of what it costs to make 1000 trades/yr for an account size of $50,000:
Scottrade = ($7 trade) (3.25% APR) ($0 monthly access fee) = $5375/yr
Zecco = (480 free trades/yr; $3.50/trade thereafter) (1.0% APR) ($0 monthly access fee) = $1320/yr
SogoInvest = ($1.50 trade) (3.0% APR) ($15 monthly access fee) = $180
So basically, 1000 trades cost $5375 at Scottrade, $1320 at Zecco, and $180 at SogoInvest.
Of course, this doesn't factor in the relatively small SEC fees, but they are unavoidable unless a broker pays them for you (not sure if Zecco or SogoInvest do that).
It also doesn't factor in customer service and the ease of using their trading platforms, nor does it factor in trade execution speed.
I've been very happy with the customer service at Scottrade, and I really like their trading platform and smooth executions. At least that has been my experience. BUT -- I'd love to save thousands per year on commissions.
Does anyone have any info/advice on Zecco and SogoInvest? I'm wondering how their customer service, trading platforms, and trade executions compare to other discount brokers.
I'm also very exitied about SogoInvest's "Automatic Investment Plan" where you can buy stocks (and ETF's) on a set schedule with low commissions so the money is drawn directly from your account each week, each month, etc.
Thanks!
--van
Zecco, interesting, is this for real, how do they make money on their IRA accounts is beyond me.
worth a try, but i don't know how safe it is or how to research it.
Zecco claims they make their profit from margin interest, and they keep their costs down by not spending much on advertising.
I forgot to mention that SogoInvest only gives the $1.50 per trade rate on the first 5,000 shares. That might be a problem for a daytrader who likes to trade large lot sizes or who simply trade large positions in low priced stocks (i.e. $10/share or less). After the first 5,000 shares, they charge .005 per share, which would cost you $1.50 + $25 = $26.50 for a 10,000 share trade. Of course, I guess you could create a market order for 5,000 shares of a stock ($1.50) and after it executes, create another market order for 5,000 additional shares ($1.50) for a total of $3 commission on 10,000 shares. But then you would have to sell it in 5,000 share chunks as well. Not sure if SogoInvest would balk at that or not.
--van