Tech review: Apps to guide your investing
Investing.com offers real-time data on stocks, several charting tools, and a host of news. Credit: Newsday/Investing.com
Earlier this month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 30,000 for the first time, fueled by hopes of a better economy in 2021 and people buying and selling stocks as a pastime while they spend more time at home. While investing in stocks has never been easier, it can still be treacherous. These apps will help you invest while giving you the knowledge to make informed choices.
Robinhood
(iOS, Android; free)
One of the big success stories of 2020, Robinhood lets you trade stocks, options and mutual funds without paying broker commissions. The app has become especially popular with younger traders, so it’s no surprise the interface sometimes resembles a video game. You can also trade cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Robinhood also offers a decent amount of trading primers for new investors.
Zacks Stock Research
(iOS, Android; free)
Zacks is an excellent resource for investors, whether you are new at it or have been doing it for some time. It offers research on stocks and mutual funds, and its "Zacks Rank," which rates stocks based on their earnings and other criteria, is used by investment pros. Its research, analysis and predictions for a company’s earnings results is the best available in any free app.
Investing.com
(iOS, Android; free)
Investing.com has been an internet mainstay since 2007, and its mobile app delivers a huge amount of information. While it offers real-time data on stocks and several charting tools, its greatest strength is the breadth of news it offers. Set up a watchlist to track stocks you are interested in before you buy them and get alerts based on criteria you set. Investing.com also does a good job covering financial markets outside the United States.
Seeking Alpha
(iOS, Android; free)
A popular stock-news website for years, Seeking Alpha brings its lively content to mobile devices. Investors can find news, opinions, research and analysis on stocks and mutual funds unavailable anywhere else. It also includes a wide selection of investment tools and charts. One caveat: Some of the opinion pieces on stocks have agendas because they are written by pros who will benefit if you buy or sell.
Days of our lives
What do work-from-homers do when they need a break? They turn on the TV. Nielsen says daytime TV viewing is up and “has become a second prime time” for many professionals and managers who used to work in-office. Nielsen says TV viewing for these workers rose 21% between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. in October, or an extra 26 minutes a day.
PETER KING
FBI: Beware of spoofed websites
Be careful of websites trying to impersonate the FBI. The agency has issued a warning about “spoofed FBI-related internet domains” that have been acquired by potential cybercriminals. Among the sketchy web domains that might fool people are “fbi-official.com,” “fbi-news.com” and “cyber-crime-fbi.org.” The FBI says be on guard for “.com” or “.org” versions of legitimate “.gov” websites. The FBI’s official website, for example, is fbi.gov, not fbi.com.
PETER KING
Game on? Not yet
Sales of digital games fell 10% year-over-year between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the result of shortages of new Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Research firm SuperData said gamers are waiting to purchase games until they buy the new consoles. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S have been flying off shelves, with online speculators charging many times more than the sales price.
