Sony (NYSE: SNE) closed at $25.51. Five of Michael Jackson's solo Albums -- "Off the Wall," "Thriller," "Bad," "Dangerous" and "HIStory," all with Epic Records, a Sony Music Label -- are among the top-sellers of all time. SNE July option implied volatility of 42 is below its 26-week average of 53, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Starbucks, were the company to own up to the history of coffee, owes its origins -- not to the cafes of Italy where Howard Schultz drank the future -- but the coffeehouse culture of Central Europe. It wasn't as glamorous in the 80s and 90s to admit it, perhaps, and certainly there was no culture, coffeeshop or otherwise, to be had until McDonald's opened in Warsaw in the early 1990s.

Ironically, then, the Polish youth are embracing the newly-opened Starbucks cafes. Washington Post op-ed columnist Anne Applebaum is in Warsaw, and says that the new Starbucks there are met with open wallets and customers eager to buy the expensive brew and flaunt it, with "the famous green label facing outward."

The results for the December quarter and all of calender 2006 are in -- and it proved to be a pretty good year. Corporate earnings, especially in the December quarter, were robust and managements were more open to allow a little breathing room for first quarter 2007. In other words, we heard optimism for 2007. As we entered 2006, managements were still very cautious with Wall Street, and would not comment optimistically about what lay ahead for 2006. Well, that's history. Let's look forward.

Value investing in 2006 proved to be the winning formula. Most well-run equity funds saw double digit returns and portfolio managers are now being paid their 2006 bonuses. But let's peel back the onion a bit and remind ourselves that past performance does not guarantee future results. The energy sector buoyed many a portfolio as we witnessed record profits, so much so, that if ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM) earns anything below $9 billion a quarter, it will be viewed as disappointing!!

Growth is back in vogue. Portfolio managers are moving into the sexier sectors of health care, technology and newer-consumer concepts. Money is moving out of financials, energy and the commodities. Since July 2006, the NASDAQ and the Russell 2000 have outperformed the S&P 500, the former up over 17%, the latter,13%. The in-flows into equity mutual funds crossed over $10 billion just for last week. New dollars looking for growth.

So where do we go from here?

According to the Wall Street Journal, Laura Bush was wearing "a pink skirt-suit" when she rang the closing bell for the New York Stock Exchange today, marking the first time, ever, that a First Lady has rung the closing bell. The White House website says brightly that her visit was made to "symbolize the vital contribution that women bring to a growing global economy."

And what better way to symbolize women in economy, everywhere, than to wear pink?

The Journal pointed out that she pronounced the floor trading "interesting" after receiving a description of the NYSE's workings from Spear Leeds & Kellogg.

Laura Bush has certainly worked hard for women's rights in her time as First Lady, but has labored much of this second term deep in the shadow of her husband. She's visiting New York City by herself this week, attending a conference on global literacy, accepting an award, and talking at the Clinton Global Initiative. She'll also talk at the UN about Burma's humanitarian crisis.

The history-making step at the NYSE seems at once flamboyant and girlish, feminista and feminine. Why ring the bell now? Why wear pink? As a woman in business, I'm at once bemused and a little insulted at this would-be economic role model. Will anyone remember Laura's actions as a mark on the timeline for feminism, or women, or pink -- or is it just a trivia footnote that will be quickly forgotten by all but the most dedicated Bushophiles? What do you think?