Buy Stocks Tip

U.S. stocks plunged and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index tumbled the most since the 1987 crash after the House of Representatives rejected a $700 billion plan to rescue the financial system.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 778 points for its biggest point drop ever as $1.2 trillion in market value was erased from American equities. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed markets slid 6.9 percent, the most in 21 years.

(Sept. 19) Financial companies jumped after the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve announced efforts to halt the credit-market seizure and British and American regulators cracked down on short sellers. Here are they:

• Citigroup Inc. (C:US) climbed 24 percent to $20.65.
• Wachovia Corp. (WB:US) surged 29 percent to $18.75.
• American International Group Inc. (AIG:US) jumped 43 percent to $3.85.
• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS:US) added 20 percent to $129.80.
• Washington Mutual Inc. (WM:US) rose 42 percent to $4.25.
• Morgan Stanley (MS:US) increased 21 percent to $27.21.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM:US) advanced 17 percent to $47.05.
• General Electric Co. (GE:US) rose the most since November 2002, adding 7.4 percent to $26.62. The third-largest company got about half its profit from financial units last year.

Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABK:US) tumbled 42 percent to $3.87 for the biggest drop since April. Moody’s Investors Service said it’s considering cutting financial-strength ratings by several grades for the bond insurer and its larger rival MBIA Inc. (MBI:US). MBIA dropped 8 percent to $12.88.

Real estate investing is one of the most attractive ways of making good money (that is if you do it correct). Moreover, real estate investing is also a lot of fun. A lot of people practice real estate investing as their core profession and, in fact, make a lot of money that way.

The key, of course, is to buy at a lower price and sell at higher price and make a profit even after paying all the costs involved in the two (buy/sell) transactions. Generally, people are of the opinion that real estate investing makes sense only when the rates are on the rise. However, real estate investing for profits is possible just about any time. Here is a list of tricks that can make real estate investing profitable for you:

• Look for public auctions, divorce settlements and foreclosures (bank/FHA/VA): Since quick settlement is the preference here (and not price), you might get a property at a price that is much lower than the prevailing market rate.
• Looking for old listings. The old listings that are still unsold may provide you with good real estate investing opportunities. Just get hold of an old newspaper and call up the sellers. They might have given up hope of selling that property at all and with a bit of negotiation you can get the property for a real low price.
• A really old (and dirty) looking house may scare off buyers. But this might be your chance for real estate investing that can yield good profits.
• Team up with attorneys: There are a number of attorneys who handle property sales on behalf of sellers or in special circumstances (like the death of the property owner). They might sometimes be looking to dispose off the property rather quickly and hence at a low price.
• Keep tab on the newspaper announcements: Property sell offs due to deaths, divorce settlements, immediate cash requirements and other reason are frequently announced in local papers. Keep track of such real estate investing avenues.

Real estate agents are professionals who help in connecting the buyer to the seller. The real estate agents work by linking together the two interested parties and charging a commission for their services. Real estate agents generally calculate their fee as a percentage of the selling price (in case of sales) and as part of the rent (for rentals). People, who want to sell/let their property, leave the details of their property with the real estate agent. The other interested party (i.e. the buyer/tenant), gets access to this information by contacting the real estate agent.

A lot of home seekers (including real estate investors) use the services of real estate agents not just for getting good deals but also getting them quick. Since real estate agents are probably most familiar with the market situation in their region of operation, it makes sense to approach them to get an idea of the going rate for properties in that region. Real estate agents would generally know the prices of various properties of different types and at various locations in the region.

A property seller can possibly get a few thousands more for his/her property by using the advice received from a good real estate agent. A good real estate agent will also analyse the needs of a home buyer/tenant and provide suggestions on what kind of home could be available to them within their budget. So a good real estate agent will not just throw a list of available properties to the buyer/ tenant but will actually discuss their needs and make a suggestion. This, in fact, works in the favour of real estate agent in two ways. Firstly, if the real estate agent is able to sell the house they get their commission and secondly, if they make the buyer happy too they earn a good reputation (and hence more business).

The global market is having serious problem. Watch your investment carefully. There are many bad news in the US market and around the wordl:

• On March 14 2008, JPMorgan Chase, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, provided a 28-day emergency loan to Bear Stearns in order to prevent the potential market crash that would result from Bear Stearns becoming insolvent. Two days later, Bear Stearns signed a merger agreement with JP Morgan Chase in a stock swap worth $2 a share or less than 10 percent of Bear Stearns’ market value.
• The federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refers to the placing into conservatorship of government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the US Treasury in September 2008.
• Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, filed a Chapter 11 petition with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan today. Lehman was forced into bankruptcy after Barclays Plc and Bank of America Corp. abandoned takeover talks yesterday.
• Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. consumer bank, agreed to acquire Merrill Lynch & Co. for about $50 billion as the credit crisis claimed another of America’s oldest financial companies. This news is good for the market. But this also tells us that current subprime mortgage crisis is far from over.
• On the evening of September 16, 2008, the Federal Reserve Bank’s Board of Governors announced that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York had been authorized to create a 24-month credit-liquidity facility from which AIG may draw up to $85 billion. The loan is collateralized by the assets of AIG.
• Washington Mutual Inc. became the nation’s biggest bank to collapse after U.S. government regulators seized the Seattle- based bank on Sept. 25. JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to acquire WaMu’s deposits and branches for $1.9 billion.
• Fortis, the largest Belgian financial-services firm, received an 11.2 billion-euro ($16.3 billion) rescue from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg after investor confidence in the bank evaporated.
• Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, will acquire the banking operations of Wachovia Corp., rescuing the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender beset by mortgage losses for more than $2 billion in stock.

Stocks tumbled worldwide, the dollar fell and U.S. Treasuries surged after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. drove investors to the safety of government debt.

Equities dropped in Europe and Asia, led by a 36 percent tumble in HBOS Plc and a 10 percent decline in Macquarie Group Ltd. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 4 percent as American International Group Inc. sank 46 percent. Russia’s Micex Index declined 5.3 percent, leading a retreat in emerging markets. Crude oil fell more than $7 to a seven-month low as speculation turmoil on Wall Street and the worsening credit crisis may slow the global economy, cutting energy demand.

This year crisis in one of the worst in history. So protect your money. Be prepare for big rally, because In the past two decades, after a big plunge in the aftermath of Sept. 11, the 1998 Russian debt default and Mexico’s 1994 peso devaluation, the index gained 20 percent or more in the next three months.

I’m trying Options Xpress to trade options. I think they are excelent because:

• There a minimum amount required to open an account
• Provide free education
• Low commision, see here. Maksimum $14.95 PER option contract. In their website, they compare their rates with Schwab, Ameritrade, Scottrade, E*Trade, and Fidelity. To get lower rates you need to trade more than 35 times in a quarter. If you trade $300, the commision will be about 5% of your trading. You need to have profit more than 5% to get even. So trade above $300.
• Easy to open

Although there is no minimum amount to deposit, I think you should prepare $1000 to get started. Lower than that you can lose money for commision.

Ospraie Management, the investment firm run by Dwight Anderson, will close its biggest hedge fund after slumping 38.6 percent this year. The New York-based Ospraie Fund fell 26.7 percent in August after a sell off’ in energy, mining and resource equity investments.

U.S. stocks rallied after Hurricane Gustav spared drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, sending oil to a fivemonth low. This oil drop is good for transportation companies, banks, and retailers.

Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines’ parent UAL Corp. rose more than 15 percent each and Lowe’s Cos. Bank of America Corp. advanced 5 percent as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it won’t have to issue common shares to raise capital.

Crude oil fell after Hurricane Gustav weakened, easing concern of widespread damage to drilling rigs and refineries. Gustav has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm, the second-weakest of the five levels of hurricane strength. Preparations for the storm closed 96 percent of offshore oil production and about 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity.

Crude oil for October delivery fell as much as $3.01, or 2.6 percent, to $112.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and traded at $113.19 at 2:32 p.m. London time. It earlier rose as much as 2.2 percent to $118.

This is taken from my free ebook on stock strategy.

Here is how you combine fundamental analysis with technical analysis:

From fundamental, choose the following stock:

• Cheap -> PEG under 1.
• Debt to Equity varies, find below average of 3 competitor of the same industry.
• Profitability -> ROE > 15%, also compare with related companies.

From technical, choose the following stock:

• Having up momentum -> earning surprise.
• Having high volume and price up -> buy, high volume and price down -> sell.

The strategy is to pick good stock by using fundamental analysis. This is the stocks that you will be monitor using technical analysis. When the technical analysis is fulfilled start buying the stock.
We will start using screener to find good stock. You can use Morning Star screener ( http://screen.morningstar.com) for this. Screen stock using the following criteria:

• Financial health grade A
• PEG < 1
• ROE greater than 15%

If you get a lot of result try to narrow this to 10 or any number which you think you can monitor for the technical.Try using PEG < 0.5 and ROE > 20%. You can find out more about each company by looking at these links below. The below links are for ATW. Change the links to suite the company you want to know about.

• http://quote.morningstar.com/Quote/Quote.aspx?ticker=ATW
• http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=t&s=ATW
• http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/overview.asp?symbol=atw

Using the above link you can find out more about the companies numbers, like P/E, dividend yield, P/S, with related industry. After the above steps, you should have some good companies. Try to make this list small, because you need to monitor these stocks for momentum or volume. You should check the good stock for any news and volume changes daily. To save your time, you can check the momentum at:
http://www.vss2000.com/iTools/eQuotePRO.asp. You can try it free for one week. If you are interested with software to make easy of your investing you can try looking at www.stocksoftwarereview.com.