Apparently the latest rung on Britney Spears' downward spiral of destruction is flavored with Merchandise 7x. According to an "insider" at the erstwhile pop princess' rehabilitation center, Britney is coping with her myriad of issues by gulping down 24 cans of Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) per day. One can only imagine what effect the syrupy goodness and caffeine (delicious in moderation, but a can an hour? inarguably excessive) is having on poor Brit, who is already reportedly battling postpartum depression, addictions, and general humiliation and shame.

Of course I immediately thought of Spears' infectious "Joy of Pepsi" commercials (which I downloaded in MP3 form six years ago, thank you very much). I wonder if PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) views this new development as a betrayal, or a slight relief?

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

If we didn't need reminding, this morning's news from China and Afghanistan re-alerts us to how sudden turbulence from afar can smack financial markets.

The Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 8.8% today on fears of new Chinese government austerity measures. And other Asian markets slumped in harmony. Meanwhile, the Dow opened down 134 points and the NASDAQ fell 45.

But that's not all. This morning also featured a failed assassination attempt on Vice President Cheney in Afghanistan. And US saber rattling against Iran raises the possibility that the price of oil could hit $125 a barrel in the event of a US air strike on Iran. The reason is that Iran could blockade the 20-mile wide Straits of Hormuz through which 40% of the world's oil exports must flow in order to reach the market.

Meanwhile a weak durable goods orders report is reinforcing fears stoked by former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan that a recession is in the cards for the US economy. With Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) announcing this morning that it will tighten its subprime mortgage standards, the hissing sound of a deflating housing bubble just ramped up its decibel level.

No wonder Americans would rather bury their heads in news of Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears. And for frightened investors, the best refuge may be money market funds and gold.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm, He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Fannie Mae.

This WSJ article, which forecasts how cheap chic will stay chic and trendy, is definitely good news for savvy and fashion conscious consumers, like me.

Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) revolutionized its discount warehouse image with a trendy advertising campaign, and more importantly, added the Isaac Mizrahi line of affordable designer apparel for women, sold exclusively at Target stores. And so the love affair began ...

Now Vera Wang will be adding her own line of thrifty chic to the Kohl's Corp. (NYSE:KSS) stores, and Gwen Stefani will be expanding her L.A.M.B. line to include fragrances to be sold by Coty Inc.

Vera Wang, who currently is unparalleled when it comes to wedding-gown lines, will be offering her chic dress designs for Kohl's customers at a mere $69. I cannot imagine this line line not selling, and well at that. Gwen Stefani, who is intensely popular with tweens, teenagers, and hipsters, has had a Midas touch effect on everything from pop music to culture and clothes. Her fragrance will surely outdo the sales of Britney Spears' "Curious" or Danielle Steel's "Danielle," both trademark Elizabeth Arden (NASDAQ:RDEN) products.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. If you think that Britney Spears makes too much money, cast your vote.

Poor Britney Spears, picked on for her parenting gaffes and apparent lack of social graces. But award-winning pop singer and dancer Spears has sold more than 70 million albums worldwide, making her one of the most successful female artists ever.

Born in Mississippi, she rose to prominence as a member of the New Mickey Mouse Club, such hit songs as "Oops, I Did It Again," and for her very successful Pepsi commercials, which reportedly earned her more than $7 million. In 2003 Forbes called her the most powerful celebrity in the world. Antics such as appearing nude on magazine covers, appearing seemingly nude in public performances, and her infamous kiss with Madonna during the 2005 MTV Music Video Awards have brought her criticism from the parents of her legions of preteen fans, many of whom look to her as a role model; Spears has denied being a role model.

In early 2004 she was very briefly married to a childhood friend, and then married dancer Kevin Federline later that year. Spears and Federline had two children before Spears filed for divorce in late 2006. Despite her break to have a family, the Britney Spears brand continued to prosper, with a highly popular perfume, Curious, released in 2004, which reportedly made about $100 million. A Britney Spears best-of album was also released in 2004, and a comeback album is reportedly planned for release in 2007.

Across the Weblogs, Inc. network a brand-new blog has opened (welcome to the excellent StyleDash!), and I was searching its pages for nuggets that might affect stocks we cover. I think we can all agree (for instance) that Wal-Mart: not stylish (no matter what the very à la mode Anne Metz says, I won't believe it). GE? Nice commercials, but not stylish. Apple? Hella stylish. eBay? Jury's out.

And as we're ticking off the companies that are oft-featured here on BloggingStocks, the biggest question that sprung to mind: how does Starbucks Corporation (NYSE:SBUX) rate on style factor? As someone who mercurially flits from independent, locally-owned, ultra-hip coffee shop to Starbucks and back again, sometimes in a single day, I'm brilliantly positioned to say: not high. Styledash's Nic Lloyd couldn't agree more.

He says, "I was tired of Starbucks and other chain coffees -- tired of the taste and the price." He finds something better, an Ethiopian coffee called Dancing Goats. It's not that much different from the Ethiopian pours I've raved for myself. Let's face it, Starbucks, fashionistas have long since left your faux Euro tables and turned to more fabulous barstools, where the coffee tastes of orchids, wild blueberries and vanilla ... not burnt beans.

After all, the most famous customer of Starbucks today? Britney Spears. I needn't (I think you'll agree) say more.

Today, Time Warner closed at 17.40, a gain of 0.23%.

But what does a gain of 0.23% mean? Well, allow me to put that in perspective for you:

• François Truffaut's film The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cent Coups) won him the Best Director Award at Cannes in 1959. A 0.23% gain would've forced the Film Festival to praise him instead for The 400.92 Blows.
• In the Biblical story of Noah's flood, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. With a 0.23% gain, it would have rained for 40.092 days and 40.092 nights.
• Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Water would freeze at 32.0736 degrees Fahrenheit with a 0.23% gain.
• In the sport of bike racing, a racer said to be "dying a thousand deaths" when struggling to hang on to the pack.With a 0.23% gain, he would be "dying a thousand-two-point-three deaths."
• “… Baby One More Time” was the Britney Spears megahit of 1998. A 0.23% gain would have changed the hit to “… Baby One-point-zero-zero-two-three More Times.”

That, finance fans, is what a 0.23% gain means.