Rubino checks his stocks on the dashboard

November 19, 1999
Web posted at: 8:00 a.m. EST (1300 GMT)

From Correspondent Bill Tucker

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Day trading is hectic enough. But try following the ups and downs of the stock market while driving a cab -- in New York.

Carlos Rubino juggles both tasks in his taxi. He's a full-time cabbie and a day trader in the cab-crazy Big Apple.

Rubino says thinking about stocks helps him relax while his customers focus on the traffic.

"If my mind is in stocks and news, it relaxes me to pay attention to my work and the people who ride with me."

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To keep his mind off the traffic, Rubino spent $3,000 to equip his cab as a mobile trading floor.

"I can get real time quotes, options, graphics...to see how they (stocks) are doing up and down," Rubino said.

Not everyone is happy about Rubino's dashboard trading. New York's tax and limo commission has labeled him a safety hazard. But he insists he practices safe trading, by pulling his cab over before he buys and sells.

"I have been driving for 12 years and I have been trading for three years and this is a brand new car and it doesn't have any dents."

Rubino has picked up a few stock tips along with his passengers. But he says he mostly sticks with familiar names like America Online and Intel.

With a 35 percent return on his investments last year and similar results so far this year, Rubino has no desire to curb his day trading.

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