3 Foreign Stocks to Trade (or Not)

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Put down the 10-K filings and the stock screeners. It's time to take a break from the traditional methods of generating investment ideas. Instead, let the crowd do it for you.

From hedge funds to individual investors, scores of market participants are turning to social media to figure out which stocks are worth watching. It's a concept that's known as "crowdsourcing," and it uses the masses to identify emerging trends in the market.

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Crowdsourcing has long been a popular tool for the advertising industry, but it also makes a lot of sense as an investment tool. After all, the market is completely driven by the supply and demand, so it can be valuable to see what names are trending among the crowd.

While some fund managers are already trying to leverage social media resources like Twitter to find algorithmic trading opportunities, for most investors, crowdsourcing works best as a starting point for investors who want a starting point in their analysis. Today, we'll leverage the power of the crowd to take a look at some of the most active stocks on the market today.

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These "most active" names are the most heavily-traded names on the market -- and often, uber-active names have some sort of a technical or fundamental catalyst driving investors' attention on shares. That's especially true now that earnings season is officially underway. And when there's a big catalyst, there's often a trading opportunity.

Without further ado, here's a look at today's stocks.

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Petrobras

Nearest Resistance: $19
Nearest Support: $16
Catalyst: Brazilian Fuel Price Increases

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras (PBR) is rallying around 5% today after hiking wholesale diesel prices in Brazil by the same amount. All in, shares of the supermajor have climbed more than 20% since Tuesday on concerns over Brazilian inflation -- a potentially big factor in boosting PBR's earnings in 2013. But the move is significant from a technical level as well.

That's because PBR has been selling off hard in the last year, down more than 38% in the trailing 12 months even with this week's bounce. But the bounce could have longer-lasting consequences, especially if it can propel shares through the trendline resistance level that's been acting as a sort of price ceiling for shares. A move through $19 resistance would be the signal that Petrobras is making a change in trend.

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