Ouch

Really, that is all we have to say. Have I ever mentioned trailing stops before...oh yeah...here, here and here ;-) And we called for selling/stops back on Dec 10 at 13,800. BUT...then I started buying again in early Jan at 12,800....kind of reminds me of trying to catch a falling knife...gotta be REALLY careful. Well, we got burned on those. But at least the commissions are free at Zecco.com so getting in and out quickly does not hurt nearly as much! Unfortunately MOST of the net worth is all tied up in those things called 401Ks....which are currently getting pummeled...so in reality...saving some losses on the small stuff is kind of a moot point...but at least it makes us feel a little better.

While we are talking about the 401K, back in Early December I moved a LOT of my 401K into emerging markets and Europe/Asia. While they are also not doing all that well...they are not getting clobbered the same way the USofA is right now...maybe in a few months we can bottom fish in the USofA...but I am going to be a bit skiddish for a while since things are just piling up over here.

Buy/Sell Corner

So the Dow is down to below 13K and the Nasdaq has fallen to about 2.5K. So why would one be buying? Because as always when things go down...you buy...duh! I am now confident that the latest "fears" will drive the fed to move on rates again....so I expect a rally in the next few months. Hopefully we can get in front of the action...maybe a little short term pain but by end of Q1 I think these are all safe plays.

Buys:

• China Digital (STV) at $26.14. I recently reviewed the reasons for investing in this spec play. Since my money was tied up in a transfer to Zecco.com I was only able to recently get on the buy side. I still really like this one longer term...hold on tight!
• Gensis Lease (GLS) at $18.11. I also explained my reasons on this one previously. Fundamentals have not changed but the recent pull-back gives me another chance to DCA ($ cost average). Since my last purchase I received a dividend of ~2% (yield is at 10%) so even though the stock has not gone up...I am still on track for 10% on the year ;-)
• Diana Shipping (DSX) at $30.03. This one is another dry bulk shipper (similar to GNK). They have a very young fleet and have a huge dividend at 7%. PEG is good at 0.9 and they have 33% room to their 1 year price target. I still am a huge believer in the dry bulk shippers and would have put more money into GNK but I figured splitting across the two companies was about the same (sector will move together) and the dividend is higher.
• Foster Wheeler (FWLT) at $136. Back in mid-November I mentioned that I bought AAPL but forgot to mention that I bought Foster Wheeler....sorry about that one ... it was a late night ;-(. It has subsequently run up to $162 with a target of $180...I like this one long term since it has mega contracts lined up for the next 5 years so in my mind there is little downside risk....the upside is somewhat limited by the high price (PEG of 1.92) now...but back at $136 (during the November market meltdown) it was screaming buy to me.
  

For the record...selling WFR last week proved to be a very good deal. Selling at $93 and now at $82 and change. I am not in a rush to get back in this one until it falls below $75 again.

Zecco.com Review

So there is a "new" website called ZECCO.COM which offers 10 free trades per month ($5 after 10). This is perfect for people who trade like myself. I rarely have more than 6 trades per month. Day traders have other options available to them which I am sure are better....but this one looked about right for me.

Instead of just telling you about this I decided to give it an actual try and then update everyone on how it went. I have now been using this for about 2 months and it definitely has it's plusses and minuses so far.

Pluses (or musts in some cases):

• Your money is protected through SIPC/FIRNA for your first $500K ($100K cache max) and an additional coverage up to $35M (900K cash max) through Lloyd's of London.
  
• Their transactions are very fast! I had a few instances with Citibank where transactions took minutes...yes minutes. With Zecco I can re-check in about 2 seconds and not only has my transaction gone through but my entire portfolio has been adjusted with the new information...that is way better than Citi!
• They have an investing community. You can see what others are doing and chat with others about certain stocks. This can also be found on Google and Yahoo Finance...but I often find that those forums have a lot of people just yapping about...the folks here tend to be much more focused.
• Customer service is friendly and fast. I asked a few dumb questions in the beginning via email and always got fast responses (hours instead of days like Citi) with clear answers (not written in India).
  
• Did I mention 10 free trades per month? Now...this is important because I am not a huge investor. I typically invest in blocks of only $3-$8K. When I am paying almost $60 to get in and out of a position...that can be as much as 2% of my gains....and that is a big bite when you can get that 2% back here at Zecco. So in my mind...I just improved my investing intelligence by 2% even if I am just as wrong as I was yesterday ;-)

Minuses:

• Money transfers in/out of my account take a little time. The first one took about 4 days to clear and the second one took about 2 days to clear. This can be a little frustrating if you want to make a move quick...but in the grand scheme of things...once you have money in your account...this is a non-issue.
• They have a pretty good stock screener...but better ones can be found elsewhere.
• The interface is getting much better. It was a little clumsy when I first tried it...but it is rapidly getting more organized and much more responsive. They need to keep up the improvements and it will quickly be better than Citi.

Overall, I really like Zecco. The fact that I can dabble in trades without paying the 1-2% penalty of the big brokers is exactly what I was looking for. The tools are sufficient and the trade executions are excellent (so far). If you want to sign-up and try yourself...just remember to tell them that I sent you there ;-)