The first quarter of 2012 is the best first quarter in 14 years that S&P 500 soared 12% during the first period.  It was really nice ride even though I was not really benefitted much due to my mis judgement on the investment selection.

Now everybody is warning that there will be market drop in April and even though the economic data will continue to be strong, the stock market will not be the same.

I somewhat agree with this for my past experience tells me that I should be careful. The Dow Jones average is soon to hit the 14,000 range, very high range, and the "NYSE summation index" (It’s a momentum indicator with an excellent track record of identifying short-term turning points in the stock market.) has been dropping since mid February even when the DOW Jones was climbing. I sense that people are very cautious everywhere.

Also I remember the experts were pretty much correct many times in the past, so I do listen to them. So I reduced my stock position to less than 40% from 90% of my total investment. 

I suggest you do the same, lowering stock percentage and closely monitor the market’s direction. Everybody does agree that the short term market correction is expected, but eventually this year will be a great year for the stock market after all with the economics getting better with fast pace.

So what are the stocks to buy for now?

I suggest you to take a look at the Gold. It has been dropping continuously and the Gold experts are forecasting that the Gold is hitting the bottom and expected to rebound soon. Suggestions: GG ($45.06 0.68 +1.53% 3/30/2012), GDX ($49.54 0.48 +0.98% 3/30/2012), SVM ($6.89 0.09 +1.32% 3/30/2012), SLW ($33.20 0.14 +0.42% 3/30/2012), FCX ($38.04 0.43 +1.14% 3/30/2012),

Also I see the financial stocks are the best performed sector in the first quarter but I am not sure if they can continue the growth in the second quarter. However, all in all, the financial stocks future look bright this year. Suggestions: BAC ($9.57 0.04 +0.42% 3/30/2012), AIG ($30.83 0.89 +2.97% 3/30/2012), DFS ($33.34 0.39 +1.18% 3/30/2012), JPM ($45.98 0.31 +0.68% 3/30/2012)

Thank you for visiting http://www.howtobuystocks.us

Do you want to earn money by stock trading? There are several things to think about before jumping into the stock market. If you do it right , the stock trading is rewarding investment, but if you buy stocks without preparation, you will lose the money. Take my three simple advises to buy stocks.

Start investment with small amount of money or the amount you feel comfortable with. When the market is doing well, people think that they would make lots of money right away. So they tend to put large amount of money, even borrowing money by using the margin account. And they end up paying off the dept. Believe me , the feeling would be devastating when your stock drops 50% or more. Always start with small amount of money that you are comfortable with.

Go with large value company stocks. Once I bought penny stocks thinking that the penny stocks would skyrocket. But the result was terrible. The price fluctuation is too severe for regular people to handle. One of the penny stocks was going out of business completely. I mean they are penny stocks company, so they are very dangerous for the long term investment. So my suggestion is to buy a good valued company such as Google, Apple, and IBM when they are cheap during the BEAR period. And it is for sure that they would not likely to go bankruptcy.

Monitor the major stock indexes. The market is always about the fight between the bear and bulls. Year 2012 is time for the bulls. So it’s a great time to start. But when do you jump in? You will need to find the best point when the market price is low. You can easily find the long term chart graphs for the indexes with additional technical indicators such as RSI7 or MACD. When you have low RSI or MACD for longer period time, I say that would be a good time to buy some value stocks. When the technical indicators remain on the upper side over 70, you should just wait until the market excitement settles down.

Thank you. That was the major three ideas for staring stock trading. To buy stock , you would need to do some study to make money, but it is surely worth the time. Please check out my site for more articles on stock trading tips.

Okay, recently the bull has been running wild and major technology stocks have gained pretty much recently. Apple (AAPL ($288.92 9/23/2010 / $530.38 0.26 +0.05% Now / +83.57% Change)), GOOGLE (GOOG ($513.48 9/23/2010 / $600.40 -22.65 -3.64% Now / +16.93% Change)) , Netflix (NFLX ($160.47 9/23/2010 / $69.96 -2.01 -2.79% Now / -56.40% Change)) -  Oh, by the way, today Blockbuster filed for the bankruptcy and that helped Netflix to gain some more today .

I been monitoring NYSE summation index (you can check out here ) graph almost everyday. Since I posted last time on Sep 1st, the index has been growing uptrend and was really nice. Now it has turned into negative territory today. I can only guess that it’s headed for downward direction and so I advise you to hold tight for the possible falling price bear action. The market is overbought and some correction is clearly expected.

Now, I just bought some BGZ ($13.08 9/23/2010 / $25.33 0.61 +2.47% Now / +93.65% Change) (Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X share) . I don’t expect too much but if this works, it will pretty much confirm NYSE index is pretty good indicator to see the market future.

I do believe that, even if the correct comes , the bear will not stay much longer since the earnings season and shopping season are around the corner. When the direction of the chart turns into positive area,  we can start buy some quality stocks again.

Thank you for visiting How to buy stocks.

You don't have online trading account yet? Why don't you join Zecco.com? Zecco provides quality trading platform with the lowest fee per trade $4.50 and free trades under some conditions.

Today was great day with Dow Jones jumped 254.75, or 2.54%, to 10,269.47. Many market advisors are saying that many investors were waiting for this moment.

Also according to the NYSE summation index (you can check out here )  , the falling has been stopped and turned into the positive area. As you can see in the past data, this positive trend may not continue, but if it dose for few days, I think we will see bull trend throughout September.

Also look at the RSI14 value, it is touching near 30 and there is lot of room to go upward.

Today’s jump changed market sentiment, and I would recommend to buy ETF if you don’t have specific stock in mind yet, but want to ride the upward trend.

• Direxion Daily Large Cp Bull 3X shs (ETF)  BGU ($44.57 9/1/2010 / $66.43 -1.92 -2.81% Now / +49.05% Change)
• Direxion Daily Small Cp Bull 3X Shs(ETF) TNA ($37.49 9/1/2010 / $45.00 -1.28 -2.77% Now / +20.03% Change)
• Direxion Daily Mid Cap Bull 3X Shs(ETF) MWJ ($29.26 9/1/2010 / $30.67 -1.19 -3.74% Now / +4.82% Change)
• Direxion Daily Finan. Bull 3X Shs(ETF) FAS ($19.86 9/1/2010 / $74.87 -2.66 -3.43% Now / +276.99% Change)

But these are volatile and sensitive to the market price , so you should be highly alert and careful. If you wan to be more careful, you can simply buy below ETF and directly play Dow Jones or S&P 500 indices.

• SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF DIA ($102.80 9/1/2010 / $123.31 -1.26 -1.01% Now / +19.95% Change)
• SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY ($108.46 9/1/2010 / $129.74 -1.12 -0.86% Now / +19.62% Change)

Happy stock trading!

I have foreseen something like this when I heard SEC accusing of Goldman Sachs back in mid April. And though that the GS ($145.22 7/15/2010 / $95.49 -1.59 -1.64% Now / -34.24% Change)will soon resolve the issue with SEC and the price will be back up at the end of GS when the price was around $145. ( Good Opportunity with Goldman Sachs ) But I guess my call was too soon and the market was down for several weeks and the price was even down to around $130 level.

But today finally I hear the news that I have been waiting for.

Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $550 million to settle federal claims that it misled investors in a subprime mortgage product as the housing market began to collapse, officials said Thursday.

S.E.C. Settling Its Complaints With Goldman (New York Times)

So the stock was up 4.43% to $145.22 during the regular opening hours and up 5.61% after hours.

At this time, it is quite difficult to tell if GS is out of the woods yet. So I am not sure if GS could do better. We have the second quarter earnings report on 7/20 (Next Tues) morning. If GS would be able to beat the estimates, probably GS can run up some more. But at this time I do not expect too much.

The worst of the recent financial-market turmoil tied to the European sovereign-debt crisis appears to have passed, a top European Central Bank official said Friday. (from MarketWatch.com)

Worst of sovereign-debt crisis is over, says ECB’s Stark

IPXL ($20.85 6/28/2010 / $20.97 -0.11 -0.52% Now / +0.58% Change) Impax Laboratories, Inc : Impax Laboratories, Inc., incorporated in 1995, is a technology-based, specialty pharmaceutical company.

Their financials is just amazing. Their net income has been growing like crazy. 2010 First quarter income was increase by almost 300% compared to the fourth quarter of 2009.  Check out their Google Finance link . Also look at this key ratios. Return on average equity is amazing 180.76%. And it’s P/E ratio is only 7.37. This is a must buy stock. I got some at $19.66 myself about couple of days ago. Click here to view the current detail stock quotes for IPXL.

Here is the graph. It has been constantly growing.

Impax Laboratories, Inc., incorporated in 1995, is a technology-based, specialty pharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on the development and commercialization of bioequivalent and brand-name pharmaceuticals. In the generic pharmaceuticals market, the Company focuses on controlled-release generic versions of brand-name pharmaceuticals, covering a range of therapeutic areas. In the brand-name pharmaceuticals market, the Company is developing products for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The Company’s brand-name product portfolio consists of development-stage projects to which the Company applies its formulation and development expertise to develop differentiated, modified, or controlled-release versions of marketed drug substances. It operates in two segments: Global Pharmaceuticals Division (Global Division) and the Impax Pharmaceuticals Division (Impax Division).

As of February 15, 2010, the Company’s generic pharmaceutical product development activities included 57 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which included generic versions of brand name pharmaceuticals, such as Brethine, Florinef, Minocin, Claritin-D 12-hour, Claritin-D 24-hour, Wellbutrin SR, Wellbutrin XL, Ditropan XL, Depakote ER and Prilosec, and 52 products in various stages of development. In addition, as of December 31, 2009, the Company had one branded pharmaceutical product for which it had completed one Phase III clinical study and other programs in the early exploratory phase.

Global Pharmaceuticals Division

The Global Division develops, manufactures, sells, and distributes generic pharmaceutical products primarily through four sales channels: the global product sales channel, for generic pharmaceutical prescription products the Company sells directly to wholesalers, retail drug chains, and others; the Private Label sales channel, for generic pharmaceutical over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription products it sells to unrelated third parties who in-turn sell the product under their own label; the Rx Partner sales channel, for generic prescription products sold through unrelated third-party pharmaceutical entities pursuant to alliance agreements, and the OTC Partner sales channel, for sales of generic pharmaceutical OTC products sold, through unrelated third-party pharmaceutical entities pursuant to alliance agreements. The Company also generates revenue from research and development services provided under a joint development agreement with another pharmaceutical company.

Impax Pharmaceuticals Division

The Company’s Impax Division is engaged in the development of brand pharmaceutical products, through improvements to already approved pharmaceutical products to address CNS disorders. The Impax Division is also engaged in the co-promotion of products developed by third-party pharmaceutical entities, through a direct sales force focused on marketing to physicians in the CNS community.

The Company competes with Sandoz, Inc., Qualitest Pharmaceuticals, URL Pharma Inc., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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You don't have online trading account yet? Why don't you join Zecco.com? Zecco provides quality trading platform with the lowest fee per trade $4.50 and free trades under some conditions.

Many non-professional stock traders just like you and me, we are not logged in or enable access to the stock brokerage web site all the time. But when you read a good or bad news on a particular stocks while you are web surfing and when you try to perform trading, most of the time we are bit sluggish and loose the critical chance to catch the better prices.

Most of the time, when you need to buy or sell stocks, you will need to visit your stock brokerage website and go through all their login process and several clicks to go through pages to reach the final trading page. The whole process requires certain process and dedicated amount of time that it prevents you from acting quickly.

Few days ago, I got an email from Zecco.com from few days ago about their new tool “Zap Trade”.

Zap Trade is a free Firefox plug-in that lets investors place stock trades and get real-time quotes while visiting popular investment and research websites.  Here’s how it works:
* Click the [Z] on select sites
* Get a real-time stock quote
* Complete the trade ticket
* Place a trade with Zecco Trading without leaving the site you’re on

Okay, according to the description, I can execute the trading right from the other investment website, such as Google Finance! This was very interesting so I had to try right away since I have been hoping for similar solution for awhile! Basically this solution is Firefox plug-in and requires version 3+.

Now I visited their downloading Zap Trade site, and installed the plugin  (Or you can access this menu from the Tools menu from Zecco.com)

Click on the “Agreement” checkbox and then Download button and it will show the above Plugin installation popup window. Once installed, you will need to restart the Firefox to activate the plugin. You can access the Zap Trade popup screen using the pink “Z” icon on the right side of the Firefox status bar. Or you can access the screen from your popular investment website.

Below image is the screen shot of Google Finance. As you can see, when you move your mouse over the stock symbol and if you see the popup icon “Z” showing right besides of the symbol, you can open Zap Trade and perform trading right away. Note that the background color of the stock symbols recognized by Zap Trade is showing as pink. So you can easily notice that you can trade the stock symbol using Zap Trade.

Zap Trade screen shows real time stock trading status including real time bid and ask prices. This would be the perfect stock trading tool you will definitely need.

Here is a Youtube video about Zap Trade that I found.

You can Download Zap Trade Now.

Below is the FAQ from the Zecco.com in case if you have more questions about its capabilities.

FAQs – Zap Trade

What is Zap Trade?

Zap Trade is a browser plug-in that enables you to get real-time quotes and submit stock trades from your Zecco Trading account while you are visiting popular investing research sites.

What are the system requirements for Zap Trade?

Zap Trade currently works with Firefox 3+. We plan to roll out Zap Trade to other browsers in the future.

Which websites does Zap Trade work on?

The Zap Trade plug-in scans and pre-fills your ticket on leading financial/investing websites. Like these portals, news and research sites:

• Bloomberg
• CNN Money
• Google Finance
• MarketWatch
• The Motley Fool
• MSN Money
• Reuters
• TheStreet
• Yahoo! Finance

Zap Trade also works on the public research sections of these brokerage sites:

• E*Trade
• Scottrade
• TD Ameritrade

Zap Trade is also available as custom website implementation. When a website is Zap Trade Enabled, access to the Zap Trade ticket is available to all visitors (no need to download a browser plug-in). The following sites are Zap Trade Enabled:

• StockTwits

If you would like Zap Trade to work on additional investing websites, please let us know by leaving a comment in the Feedback Group.

What types of securities can I trade with Zap Trade?

Zap Trade supports stock and ETF trading at this time. You can select all transaction types available to you in the full Zecco Trading platform, including buy, sell, short, and cover (according to the permissions on your account). Zap Trade does not currently support trading of options, mutual funds, bonds or foreign exchange.

Does it cost extra to use Zap Trade?

No. Use of Zap Trade is free, as is access to real-time quotes. Of course, trades submitted through Zap Trade are subject to the same commissions that you currently enjoy at Zecco Trading.

How does Zap Trade work?

As a web browser plug-in, Zap Trade works by adding special functionality to your Firefox browser. This patent-pending technology detects stock symbols and links on popular investing websites and overlays instant quote and trade ticket controls on top of your view of these sites.

How do I sign in to Zap Trade?

When you open Zap Trade, you may be prompted for your username and password. Just sign in using the same username and password you use on the Zecco site. Note that if you are signed in to Zap Trade, you will also be signed in to the Zecco website. Likewise, if you sign out of Zap Trade, you will also be signed out of the Zecco website.

Are stock trades submitted through Zap Trade handled like my other trades?

Yes. Stock trades submitted using Zap Trade are handled identically to those submitted using the Zecco Trading site.

Is Zap Trade secure?

Yes. Information you enter or access using Zap Trade is protected by the same Verisign SSL encryption protocols used by the Zecco website and Zecco Trading platform.

Is Zap Trade monitoring me?

No. Zap Trade does not track, record or store the sites you visit or any other web browsing activity. Zap Trade simply scans pages of relevant research websites that you are browsing in order to detect stocks you can trade at Zecco Trading. When you launch the Zap Trade ticket, the only data obtained from the web page is the stock symbol, so as to pre-fill the trade ticket.

How do I make sure that I have the latest Zap Trade version?

To ensure the best user experience, we recommend that you keep Zap Trade updated automatically in your Firefox browser.

• In Firefox for Windows: Tools > Options > Advanced > Update and select “Automatically check for updates to: Installed Add-ons”
• In Firefox for Mac: Firefox > Preferences > Advanced > Update and select “Automatically check for updates to: Add-ons”

You can also update Zap Trade manually by going to Tools > Add-ons and click “Find updates in the Firefox browser” (both Windows and Mac).

How do I disable or uninstall Zap Trade?

To disable or uninstall Zap Trade, go to the Firefox browser and select Tools > Add-ons > Extensions. Now select Zap Trade and click Disable or Uninstall.

Download Zap Trade and Enjoy fast and easy stock trading !

How to buy stocks online

Incoming search terms:

• how to buy stocks for zap
• stock trading screen

I just read an article about forecasting that market will rally into July 2010. It’s quite interesting method of identifying bull or bear . The author is using “NYSE summation index”  (It’s a momentum indicator with an excellent track record of identifying short-term turning points in the stock market.) Author is using its MACD chart to identify bull and bear.

The indicator generates “buy” signals when the short-term moving average convergence divergence (MACD) – the black line on the bottom graph – crosses up and over the longer-term MACD line – the red line. Buy signals are marked by the green circles on the chart.

“Sell” signals occur when the short-term MACD line curls down and crosses below the long-term line. Sell signals are marked by the red circles.

And here are the charts of NYSE summation index ($NYSI) and S&P 500 side by side to compare the SELL (red) or BUY alert (green) of NYSE index with S&P 500 charts. It matches almost perfectly.

The recent BUY signal started on Jun 9th (where the Black MACD line crosses up red line) and the author expects the current short term bull trend will continue till mid July 2010.

By the way, you can access these graphs directly from stockcharts.com

His argument is pretty much convincing. And if you want to buy stocks,  you might want to consider DIA ($104.49 0.13 +0.12%) or SPY ($111.73 0.13 +0.12%). They are ETF that you can buy or sell DOW Jones or S&P 500 index just like regular stock.

Hold Your Nose and Buy

You don't have online trading account yet? Why don't you join Zecco.com? Zecco provides quality trading platform with the lowest fee per trade $4.50 and free trades under some conditions.

Hello, after about a month the stock market seems to run with nice come back for the last few days.

I have a good recommendation for the stocks to buy at this point.

CACC ($46.75 -0.18 -0.38%) (Realtime: CACC ($86.09 1.41 +1.67% Live) ): Credit Acceptance Corp . With the expectation of better auto buying market this year, we can imagine the great possibility of the growth on this stock. The P/E is not even 10.  Click here to view the current detailed stock quote for CACC

Credit Acceptance Corporation (Credit Acceptance) is a provider of auto loans to consumers, using a nationwide network of automobile dealers who benefit from sales of vehicles to consumers who otherwise could not obtain financing; from repeat and referral sales generated by these same customers, and from sales to customers responding to advertisements for the Company’s product. The Company operates in two business segments: United States and Other. The United States segment is its dominant segment and primarily consists of the United States automobile financing business. The Other segment consists of businesses in liquidation, primarily represented by the discontinued United Kingdom automobile financing business. It has two programs: the Portfolio Program and the Purchase Program. Under the Portfolio Program, it advances money to Dealer-Partners (Dealer Loan) in exchange for the right to service the underlying Consumer Loan.

Also if you look at the chart , its price has been steadily increased during the last few month.

LULU ($45.58 1.23 +2.77%) (Realtime: LULU ($66.96 -0.01 -0.01% Live) ):  Lululemon Athletica inc

This stock has been running higher and higher since last year. Their earnings report are just getting better every quarter.  Click here to view the current detailed stock quote for LULU.

lululemon athletica inc. is a designer and retailer of technical athletic apparel primarily in North America. Its yoga-inspired apparel is marketed under the lululemon athletica brand name. The Company offers a line of apparel and accessories, including fitness pants, shorts, tops and jackets designed for athletic pursuits, such as yoga, running and general fitness. As of January 31, 2010, its branded apparel was principally sold through 124 stores that are primarily located in Canada and the United States. As of January 31, 2010, its retail footprint included 45 stores in Canada, 70 stores in the United States and nine franchise stores in Australia.

The Company offers a line of performance apparel and accessories for both women and men. Its apparel assortment, including items such as fitness pants, shorts, tops and jackets, is designed for healthy lifestyle activities such as yoga, running and general fitness. The Company’s fitness-related accessories include an array of items, such as bags, socks, underwear, yoga mats, instructional yoga digital versatile discs (DVDs) and water bottles. The Company also sells lululemon athletica products through yoga studios, health clubs and fitness centers. As of January 31, 2010, it had one franchise store in Canada and four franchise stores in the United States.

The Company competes with Nike, Inc., adidas AG, Under Armour, Inc., Lucy Activewear Inc., The Gap, Inc. and bebe stores, inc.

News from reuter

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUKN1216591820100612?type=companyNews

Now I really feel terrible about the BP ($31.85 0.45 +1.43%) (Realtime: BP ($37.10 -0.40 -1.07% Live) ) unable to block the oil flow. The last time I really thought that they could “TOP KILL” the oil flowing , but they couldn’t . That’s when another price drop occurred. The price has pretty much dropped to $30 level now where the price range was in the year of 1997. I personally still think this is a great buying opportunity. But many investors and stock analysts advise to avoid this stock. I also admit that this is highly volatile stock and not sure what’s going to happen soon, so I would not recommend you unless you can just close the eyes and go long with this one.