I like Scottrade. $7 market orders, fast executions, good customer service when I need it, which hasnt been often. Their website provides a lot of good research information.

Can’t say for sure. But I use Schwab. E-trade has some questionable practices such as charging you maintenance fees on an account which contains worthless stocks. They won’t close your account unless you have sold all your stocks. Some stocks are worthless, i.e. no one will buy them. E-Trade will not close your account unless you sell these stocks that no one will buy. That way they can keep charging you maintenance fees. They will not even accept the stocks as a donation so you could close the account.
I suggest you visit the broker’s web site and find out what they offer in the way of free (or paid ) research and what useful features they have in their brokerage that would quickly make you a savvy investor.
Sometimes when you go on the cheap what you get turns out to be expensive so don’t pick the cheapest broker, especially if you don’t really know what you’re doing.

I use Scottrade. But, for a new trader I would suggest Schwab. They’re better suited to assit with questions you may have.

Definitely Scottrade or Ameritrade.