It has been a very good year for me personally as well as professionally, and I hope for all of you out there as well. On the positive side, my readership and client base have both grown very well indeed. On the less than positive side, I missed the Great Rally of 2013 completely.� If you would've told me last Christmas that the S&P 500 would be over 1800 this Christmas I would laughed in your face.� Well I guess the last laugh's on me. Which is why, I s'pose, that I am an educator and not a financial adviser.
Having said that, here is some free advice (which is worth exactly what you pay for it): If you own stocks you've had a wonderful year. If you choose not to take some profits and as the old saying goes, "no one ever went broke taking a profit", then here's a couple things that you can do.
One: Take a double. Meaning, when you can sell one half of your trade or position so that the other half is free, do it. It is both sound discipline and responsible money management. And, hey, now you're playing with the House's money.
Two: Take advantage of the very low option premiums and purchase some downside insurance in the form of put options. Historically seen, options implied volatility is low. That in itself is a cautionary sign as it suggests both complacency and under insurance. Out of the money puts are cheap. You can buy them and keep rolling them over each expiration. Don't forget, you want them to expire worthless. While we all pay for fire insurance on our home we certainly hope that we'll never have to use it.
In conclusion, I anticipate a banner 2014 for The Liss Report. I will be launching a new upgraded website early next year, which will include such features as live internet radio. I intend to put more emphasis on new developments in Options Land, such as Binary Options. And, while won't promise not to be controversial, I ! do promise to do my very best to be both informative and entertaining.
Have wonderful, joyful holidays full of prosperity, peace and love!!
...
�
The following article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.
Top 10 US Companies To Own In Right Now: CYNK Technology Corp (CYNK)
Cynk Technology Corp., formerly Introbuzz, Inc., is a development stage-company. The Company intends to develop a social network business. Social networks are Web based services that allow individuals to post a profile and link their profile to other friends and organizations.
The Company intends to develop a database of professional and other business persons, as well as other interested persons in providing and utilizing contacts. As of November 14, 2012, the Company had not generated any revenue.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
CYNK Technology (CYNK), the mysterious over-the-counter stock that at one point broke a $6 billion market cap, dropped roughly 80 percent in its first trades after a Securities and Exchange Commission halt. The SEC halted CYNK for two weeks following a massive rise in the stock's value -- it had been worth only a few cents per share in June, but it jumped above $21 on July 10. The Belize-based CYNK Technology supposedly operates a social networking site, but filings indicate it only has one employee and virtually no assets. Experts told CNBC the week of the SEC halt that they expected CYNK to fall precipitously after reopening, and its first day of trading is proving those predictions correct. When it was halted, the stock was worth just less than $14 per share, and is now below $3 a share after briefly hovering around $5 earlier Friday morning. An OTC Markets spokeswoman told Reuters that CYNK's shares were not trading on its platform, but were occurring over the phone. Earlier this week Reuters reported that OTC's CEO did not expect CYNK to trade on its platform at all after reopening, as no brokerages would file the required paperwork for the stock to trade on their exchanges. An SEC spokesman said that the organization cannot comment on the status of a company after a suspension period ends, citing an online explanation of the process. That document notes that broker-dealers may not solicit investors to trade the previously suspended OTC stock until they satisfy several regulatory requirements. The SEC warned, however, that "unsolicited" trading may occur after a reopening -- as CYNK is now seeing -- but "even though such trading is allowed, it can be very risky for investors without current and reliable information about the company."
Top Internet Stocks To Own For 2014: IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI)
IAC/InterActiveCorp engages in the Internet business in the United States and internationally. The company�s Search segment develops, markets, and distributes various downloadable toolbars; provides search, reference, and content services through its destination search and other Websites, including Ask.com and Dictionary.com; and aggregates and integrates local advertising and content for distribution to publishers on Web and mobile platforms, as well as markets and distributes mobile applications through which it provides search and additional services. Its Match segment offers subscription-based and advertiser-supported online personals services through its Websites comprising Match.com, Chemistry.com, OurTime.com, BlackPeopleMeet.com, and OkCupid.com, as well as through mobile applications and Meetic-branded Websites. The company�s ServiceMagic segment offers Market Match service that matches consumers with service professionals; Exact Match service, which enables con sumers to review service professional profiles and select the service professional that meets their specific needs; and 1800Contractor.com, an online directory of service professionals. This segment also offers Website design and hosting services. Its Media and Other segment operates CollegeHumor.com, an online entertainment Website that targets young males; Vimeo, a Website on which users can upload, share, and view video; and Pronto.com, a comparison search engine. This segment also engages in the creation of video content for various distribution platforms; and operates as an Internet retailer of footwear and related apparel and accessories, as well as focuses on multimedia business. The company was formerly known as InterActiveCorp and changed its name to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July 2004. IAC/InterActiveCorp was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Stelter]
I hesitated, but she insisted that I come to the headquarters of Barry Diller's IAC (IACI) for an in-person demonstration of the product, which she called an "online TV platform." Once I was there, I understood. "Surprisingly high-quality signal," I scribbled in my notebook. "Place- and time-shifting!"
- [By John Kell]
IAC/InterActiveCorp(IACI). said its fourth-quarter earnings jumped 89% as the Internet firm managed to offset a decline in search and media revenue with cost cutting. Revenue missed estimates, sending shares down 5.6% to $65 in light premarket trading.
- [By Chris Isidore]
Newsweek, the news magazine whose print version was abandoned late last year, was sold in August by IAC (IACI) to another all-digital news company, IBT Media.
Top Internet Stocks To Own For 2014: eBay Inc.(EBAY)
eBay Inc. provides online platforms, services, and tools to help individuals and merchants in online and mobile commerce and payments in the United States and internationally. Its Marketplaces segment operates ecommerce platform eBay.com; vertical shopping sites, such as StubHub, Fashion, Motors, and Half.com; and classifieds Websites, including Den Bl�Avis, BilBasen, Gumtree, Kijiji, LoQUo, Marktplaats.nl, mobile.de, Alamaula, Rent.com, eBay Anuncios, eBay Kleinanzeigen, and eBay Annunci, as well as provides advertising services. The company?s Payments segment offers payment and settlement services for consumers and merchants on and off eBay Websites and other merchant Websites. This segment operates PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online and through mobile devices; Bill Me Later that enables the United States merchants to offer, the United States consumers to obtain, credit at the point of sale for ecommerce and mobile tra nsactions; Zong, which allows users with mobile phones to purchase digital goods and have the transactions charged to their phone bill; and BillSAFE that enables customers pay for purchases upon receipt of an invoice. Its GSI segment offers an ecommerce services suite for enterprise clients that operate in general merchandise categories, including apparel, sporting goods, toys and baby, health and beauty, and home; and marketing services comprising full-service digital agency, enterprise email marketing, mobile advertising, affiliate marketing, advertisement retargeting, and in-depth analytics services. The company also offers X.commerce platform that provides software developers access to the company?s applications programming interfaces to develop functionality for various merchants; and Magento Connect, which allows developers to market and sell add-on functionality and solutions to merchants that use a Magento storefront. eBay Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquarter ed in San Jose, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Casey Rodgers/Invision for History/AP My anniversary is coming up soon. And I've stalked my wife on Pinterest looking for gift ideas. Pinterest is the perfect place to find gift ideas for us clueless guys. And I've found the perfect gift. The problem is that it's expensive. Even eBay (EBAY) is pricey for the designer sunglasses that she wants. Then a brilliant idea hit me: I should ask the seller on eBay for a discount. The online retailing giant opened a proverbial can of worms when it started allowing sellers to add the "or best offer" option to auction listings. Even though this listing didn't allow for haggling from its "buy it now" option, I thought I would try anyway. So I emailed the seller, asking if the listing price on eBay was the best it could offer. I had nothing to lose. The worst thing it could tell me was no. And the seller had already beaten the best price I could find elsewhere by more than 10 percent. I was pleasantly surprised when the retailer lowered the price by an additional 15 percent and threw in free shipping. This made me wonder how many other opportunities for discounts I was missing. All it takes is a little creativity and negotiation skills. Here are a few ideas. Retail Stores Are Tough to Negotiate with for Customers My friends gave me a crash course in bartering when I traveled to Mexico in college: If a store has air conditioning, the retailer freezes its prices as well. It's hard to negotiate with retail stores. They have a lot of overhead and often price their wares in order to earn a specific profit margin. But it isn't impossible to negotiate. One of the best ways that you can open the conversation is to simply ask, "Is that the best price you can do?" This is a very powerful question. Retailers may surprise you by offering you a discount simply by asking for it. Call About Cable, Phone and Internet Service Cable and satellite TV providers are notorious for offering deep discounts and freebies when you initially si
Top Internet Stocks To Own For 2014: Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN)
Amazon.com, Inc. operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. It operates retail Web sites, including amazon.com and amazon.ca. The company serves consumers through its retail Web sites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. It also offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products on its Web sites, and their own branded Web sites. In addition, the company serves developer customers through Amazon Web Services, which provides access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to enable virtually various type of business. Further, it manufactures and sells the Kindle e-reader. Additionally, the company provides fulfillment; miscellaneous marketing and promotional agreements, such as online advertising; and co-branded credit cards. Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tim Gallagher]
Why don't we reach out to Monsanto (MON), Syngenta (SYT), Deere (DE), DuPont (DD), Kroger (KR), Kellogg (K), General Mills (GIS), and the other grocery chains, Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT), Costco (COST), Panera (PNRA), Amazon (AMZN)…..you get the picture.
- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Ted S. Warren/APAmazon's "Mayday" customer service app, which provides a direct link to live tech support, is shown on the new Fire Phone. SEATTLE -- Amazon set out to do something different with the unveiling of its first smartphone Wednesday. How about a completely new way of interacting with your phone, for starters? As part of the showcase of its brand new "Fire Phone," Amazon.com (AMZN) took the wraps off a feature it calls "dynamic perspective." Turns out, it's more than just a gimmick that allows you to see in 3-D. The feature makes use of four infrared cameras pointed at your face that help judge whether you're looking at the screen straight-on, at an angle and how close you are to the screen. The phone can then adjust the image accordingly. That gives you the ability to see depth in images, to see around objects in the foreground, to zoom in for a better look, and to toggle through websites, books and menus and even to play games by tilting the phone back and forth and up and down while you look at it. Another feature called "Firefly" brings what's known as augmented reality to life in a new way, by turning your phone into a powerful tool that recognizes book covers, CDs, DVDs, songs, movies, grocery items, phone numbers and websites and pulls them into the phone so you can take action. For Amazon, the major benefit of this is that it takes price comparison shopping to a new level, because any item you see while walking down the aisle of a Walmart (WMT) or Target (TGT) can get an instant price check. Amazon says the phone can recognize more than a hundred million items. And if you link your credit card information to the service, you can make a purchase with a couple taps. But more than that, by releasing these tools to developers, Amazon has made what could be a major contribution to what a smartphone can do. With about a half hour to try out these features and have them explained in depth, I was both impressed and saw some flaws. The 3-D
- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
He and his wife packed up and moved from New York to Seattle. On the cross-country drive, Bezos banged out Amazon.com Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AMZN) initial business plan.
Top Internet Stocks To Own For 2014: Google Inc.(GOOG)
Google Inc. maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google?s applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form; and enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices, as well as Google Local that provides local information on the Web; and Google Boost for small businesses to participate in the ads auction. In addition, it offers And roid, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites; Google Search Appliance that offers real-time search of business and intranet applications, and public Web sites; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Checkout to make online shopping and payments streamlined and secure; Google Maps Application Programming Interface; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
Ever since Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN ) commandeered Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) Android for its own purposes, there's been a distinct line in the sand. Amazon has its forked version of Android that has no official association with the search giant or its content stores, while Google has its sanctioned version. Amazon just crossed that line.
- [By Doug Ehrman]
Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO ) announced estimate-beating earnings results recently, but disappointed investors on two critical metrics: revenue and display ad revenue. The company's stock has been on a tear since CEO Marissa Mayer took the helm, giving the market new faith in the once-top search engine. As content becomes more streamlined and relevant, the hope is that Mayer can bring the expertise she displayed at Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) to the reinvigoration effort.
- [By Esekla]
Consider that situation together with the fact that next earnings report, due in early August, will include increased licensing revenue and be the first to fully account for supplying the new screen, and we just may have the catalyst we need. There are multiple other squeeze-triggering opportunities on the horizon as well, including:
Adoption by Apple (AAPL)Use in new classes of devices like Google (GOOG) GlassThe shift of televisions to OLEDGrowing & diversifying of the revenue stream due to expanding productionA killer application using flexible displays.Put it all together, and you have probably the most compelling reward to risk ratio of any stock mentioned here, though developments still will need to be monitored carefully.
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