Joe,
You've heard all about the "mobile daytrader" craze. Here's the Wall Street Journal's coverage....
Bud
With This Cab, People Jump In And Shout, 'Follow That Stock!'
By BARBARA BOYDSTON
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL INTERACTIVE EDITION
August 18, 1999
And you thought cabdrivers with cell phones were scary. How about a taxi driver with a trading desk in the front seat?
When a stoplight turns red or traffic backs up, New York cabby Carlos Rubino morphs into a day trader, scanning real-time quotes of his favorite stocks as they spew across a PalmPilot mounted next to the steering wheel. "It's kind of stressful," he says. "But I like it."
Itching to know how a particular stock is doing? Mr. Rubino is happy to look up quotes for his passengers. Yahoo!, Amazon.com and America Online are the most-requested ones. He even lets customers use his Hitachi Traveler laptop to send urgent e-mail messages from the back seat. "Instead of a trading desk, he's got a dashboard," says Drew Ladner, one recent rider.
A few months ago, three parts-sellers for Boeing Co. hopped in. They were talking about the company's stock, so Mr. Rubino went online to check the news for them. Sure enough, Boeing had just inked a big deal with some European airlines. The three immediately clicked on their cell phones and put in "buy" orders for Boeing stock. "They were happy," says the 42-year-old cabby. "The fare was $7, but they gave me $25."
Aware of a new local law prohibiting cabbies from using cell phones while they're driving, Mr. Rubino extends that rule to his trading. "I stop the cab at the side of the road if I have to make a trade," he says. "Safety first."
Originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mr. Rubino has been driving his cab since 1987, and started trading stocks a few years ago. His curiosity grew as he began to educate himself by reading business publications.
The Wall Street brokers he picks up are usually impressed with his knowledge, he says. But the feeling generally isn't mutual. Some of them "don't know much," he says. "They buy what people tell them to buy -- they're like a toll collector."
Mr. Rubino is an enigma to his fellow cabdrivers. A lot of his colleagues say they want to trade, too. "But cabdrivers are a little cheap," he says. "The [real-time] quotes cost $100 a month. The wireless Internet access is $54 a month."
Will he give up his brokerage firm on wheels for a stationary job? Not likely. Though he claims a 70% return on his investments since January, he says he makes $1,300 and up a week driving his cab -- more than he does trading. Besides, he adds, "why go somewhere and have a boss?"
Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
