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I forgot to mention dividend stocks. I strongly recommend the blue chips like Bank of America (BAC) or Altria (MO), because their dividends are strong. I'm waiting for BAC to drop below $46, preferably $45.50 or less, before buying. Merck might be another good blue-chip choice, although I don't know their dividend. Energy stocks are a good place to be in right now (not at this moment, since they've been topping out, but just watch it). I bought Valero (VLO) at $50.95 and sold at $55.50 for a quick small gain in 3 weeks. If I'd held it, I'd have gotten ~15% on it up til now, since it just broke $60. I can't complain though, because that money went to a penny stock that netted me a 40% gain in less than 2 weeks.
I would not pick up GM for its dividends. In fact, their dividend used to be $2/share, and they cut it in half. They are a risky stock to play right now, what with their problems with GMAC and Delphi. Their stock got hit just today because of Delphi. I've set a limit buy of 18.5 on GM; I don't think it's worth taking the risk at the current price, and just a week or two ago they were at $19.xx, so I think it will drop back down a little bit.
With Scottrade, you can buy penny stocks, but there's a 1/2% commission on the total order. That's why I only buy ~$500-1000 in penny stocks. I think it helps keep my penny stock trading in check, so that I'm not tempted to risk $10k on a penny stock.
I was watching RFID technology, but I still haven't decided to risk investing in those companies yet.
I've heard that Ameritrade can sometimes get a little better price (by a penny or two) for market orders than Scottrade could, but such a benefit would only really come into play when you're moving lots of money consistently,i.e. $10k at a time. Besides that, I haven't heard much about Ameritrade, except that they cost more.
I like bringing up stocks and picking other people's brains, because it can give me a few more stocks to keep an eye on.
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