Online Investment Resources

In October, the US stock market experienced its greatest one-day point loss ever. The next day, it experienced its greatest one-day point gain. With the recent stock market excitement, I think many of us in Japan have wished that we were more in touch with our investments. Well, the Internet lets us do that.

by Forest Linton

Two years ago, I wrote a column on Internet investing sites. A lot has changed since then, so this month IÕll revisit the world of online investing. If you dabble in the market, you will be happy to know that there are a multitude of ways to manage your investments from Japan.

Best information sites
Infobeat (formerly Mercury Mail) - My personal favorite, Infobeat, is e-mail based. This gives it the greatest possible access. Users can create a portfolio to track by Web sign-up or by e-mail. In addition to end-of-day stock quotes, users can also receive market summary mail, news clips about stocks in their portfolio, and an intra-day alert service (which notifies the user if a stock changes price suddenly or experiences heavy trading volume). Infobeat also offers e-mail reports on news, weather, and sports scores. http://www.infobeat.com/; e-mail info@infobeat.com

Hoovers Online - Billed as the ultimate source for company information, the Hoovers Online homepage features several sections including recent IPO filings, company reports (prospectuses), and top headline news. One of the neatest features is StockScreener, which allows the user to search for stocks based on 20 different performance criteria from P/E (price-earnings) ratio to market capitalization. A great site. http://www.hoovers.com/

MSN Investor - Investor is a full-featured reference site that offers a multitude of information sources and links to online brokerages. The real gem of the service, however, is the portfolio manager, in which the user specifies stocks to track (and the number of shares and price, if desired). Stock information is listed inside an Active control within the Web browser, and is totally customizable by the user - including the update schedule. Links to news and charts are also available. To use Investor, you must be using Windows and running Internet Explorer 3.0 or greater. http://www.investor.msn.com/

Yahoo Stocks - My Yahoo - This site offers real-time quotes, international quotes, charts, and symbol lookup. Stock quotes and charts are available in a variety of views and levels of detail. There are links to financial news, IPO listings, reference data, and related news articles. Yahoo Stocks hosts several content areas, including the Motley Fool, The Online Investor, message boards, and chat rooms. With My Yahoo, users can design their own startup page that includes market information and stock quotes. http://quote.yahoo.com/; http://edit.my.yahoo.com/

Quote.Com - Quote.com is an extensive research site and offers members access to several big-name reports including Morningstar, First Call, Liper, and Zacks. Member services include unlimited stock quotes, charts, portfolios, and news headlines. Several additional levels of membership are available, which offer additional portfolios, real-time quotes, and access to more news feeds and research. A new feature for members is real-time intra-day charting. Free trials are available for nonmembers. Memberships start at $9.95. http://www.quote.com/

Best trading sites
e.Schwab - Schwab has brought its world famous discount brokerage service to the Web. E.Schwab was first launched over a year ago, and has gradually improved into a full-fledged site. Online trades receive a 20% fee discount and are executed quickly. An e.Schwab membership, free with a regular Schwab account, offers one of the best ways to manage your investments traditionally as well as online. My personal favorite. http://www.schwab.com/

E*Trade - Founded in 1982, E*Trade made a big name for itself with its own IPO last year. Starting at $14.95 per trade, E*Trade is one of the lowest priced brokers on the Web. Services include free stock, option, fund, and market quotes, symbol lookup, and a neat online stock game for members to practice without risking any money (and win a monthly $1000 prize). http://www.etrade.com/

Waterhouse Securities - Waterhouse is another traditional broker that has brought its service to the Web. Waterhouse currently seems to be in a price war with E*Trade, and offers trades starting at $12.00. Waterhouse is a full-service broker allowing option trading, margin accounts, and phone trading. http://www.waterhouse.com/

APL/PAWWS Financial Network - One of the pioneers of Web-based trading, the PAWWS network has been around since early 1994. It offers online trading services from three different brokers and a variety of services including real-time stock market quotes, sophisticated market analyses, and planning tools. Member packages start at $8.95 per month. http://www.secapl.com/

Japanese financial resources on the Web
Online Japanese financial sites are starting to spring up, including end-of-day quotes with promises of intra-day quotes and charts as well. I believe it wonÕt be long before individuals will be able to trade Japanese stocks on the Web. Here is a listing of some of the leading Japanese financial sites.

Nomura Research Institute: http://www.nri.co.jp/
Yahoo! Japan (Japanese only): http://quote.yahoo.co.jp/
Nikkei Net (Japanese only): http://www.nikkei.co.jp/
Nikko Securities: http://www.nikko.co.jp/index_e.html

Forest Linton takes stock of the Internet here in "The Digital Forest" every month. Address your Net-related questions or comments to forest@gol.com.

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