Discovery Communications, Inc. (DISCA) closed at $41.80. OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture between Oprah Winfrey's production company, Harpo, and cable programmer Discovery Communications, is slated to launch on January 1. Overall option implied volatility of 26 is below its 26-week average of 29 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM) overall option implied volatility of 24 is below its 26-week average of 27 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

This may have been Black Friday for the retailers, but the shortened Friday session felt like a Red Friday for investors. Continuing concern about Irish banks, Portuguese debt, and tension in Korea all weighed on investors. The National Federation of Retailers predicted some 138 million shoppers will be trolling for bargains this weekend, up from 134 million last year. The U.S. dollar continues to gain strength against the euro, the yen, and the British pound. Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA: 11,092.00, -95.29, -0.85%
S&P 500: 1,189.40. -8.95, -0.75%
NASDAQ: 2,534. -8.56, -0.34%

Top Analyst Calls

Alcoa (AA) closed at $10.34. AA is expected to report Q2 EPS on July 11. Overall option implied volatility of 45 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting nondirectional movement.

Siemens (SI) closed at $89.69. SI overall option implied volatility of 41 is above its 26-week average of 51, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM) is recently up 48 cents to $38.05 in pre-open trading. EEM overall option implied volatility of 35 is above its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Standard & Poor's Depository Receipts (SPY) is recently down 42 cents to $106.24 in pre-open trading. February and March put volatility is at 28; April is at 26; above its 26-week average of 24 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM) closed at $37.20. EEM overall option implied volatility of 34 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

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

For 26 years, at the start of each year, I've conducted an annual survey of newsletter advisors, asking for their favorite investment for the coming year. Until 2 or 3 years ago, their responses were almost always individual stocks and an occasional mutual fund.

Increasingly in recent years, many advisors have found their favorite positions to be exchange traded funds, whereby they can invest in a sector, region, or strategy without the inherent risk of an individual company. Indeed, in this year survey of 75 advisors, fully 1 out of 5 advisors chose ETFs.

ETFs were a popular choice for those seeking global exposure. Mark Salzinger, editor of The Investor's ETF Report, selects the S&P China SPDR (NYSE: GXC) as his favored play. (Read the full article here.)

Nick Vardy sees opportunity in China, but also sees potential in a broader range of emerging global markets. The editor of Global Stock Investor looks to the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (ASE: EEM) as his top idea for 2009. (Read the full article here.)

Carl Delfeld of Chartwell Advisors also wants to own a basket of emerging markets stocks, but only small caps. His pick is the WisdomTree Emerging Market Small Cap (NYSE: DGS). (Read the full article here.)

Jim Lowell takes a similar view -- chosing global small caps -- but adds a further restriction. His recommended ETF limits its holdings to dividend paying stocks. Hence, the top pick in his Marketwatch ETF Trader is the WisdomTree International Small Cap Dividend (NYSE: DLS). (Read the full article here.)

ETFs an also be used to play a specific sector, such as consumer stocks. Leonard Goodall sees upside in companies making the "basics" such as soda, toothpaste and soap. In his No-Load Fund Investor, his top way to play this trend is the Consumer Staples ETF (NYSE: XLP). (Read the full article here.)

In addition to using ETFs to invest in a region, country or sector, these vehicles can also be used to invest in a certain strategy. For example, Tom Bishop, editor of BI Research, chooses the PowerShares Value Line Industry Rotation ETF (NYSE: PYH), which rotates its holdings to only include stocks that earn Value Line's top investment rating. (Read the full article here.)

Doug Fabian, editor of Successful Investing, looks to PowerShares DB Crude (NYSE: DXO), an exchange-traded note. While this leveraged position goes up twice as much as the underlying index when it rises, it also goes down twice as much when the index declines. (Read the full article here.)

Paul Tracy, editor of StreetAuthority Market Advisor takes a similar approach, but rather than speculate on the price of oil and gas, he looks to ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas (NYSE: DIG), which invests in a basket of stocks operating within these sectors. (Read the full article here.)

The most popular choice in this year's survey was ETFs investing in gold. Both Vivian Lewis, editor of Global Investing, recommends the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD); it's price reflects 1/10th of an ounce of gold. (Read the full article here.)

Mary Anne Aden, editor of The Aden Forecast, also selects the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) as her top investment ideas for the coming year. (Read the full article here.)

Mark Leibovit, market timer and editor of VRTrader, holds a long-term bullish view on gold and opts for upside leverage. His top pick is the PowerShares DB Gold Double Long (NYSE: DGP). (Read the full article here.)

Pamela Aden, co-editor for The Aden Forecast, also sees upside potential in gold but prefers to invest in the companies that mine for the precious metal. Her top pick is the Market Vectors Gold Miners (NYSE: GDX). (Read the full article here.)

For greater leverage (and higher risk), Steve Rawls, editor of Tipping Point Stocks, suggests the ProShares Ultra Gold (NYSE: UGL), which moves twice the rate of the underlying London gold price. (Read the full article here.)

Mike Larson, editor of Money & Markets, sees downside risk in financial stocks. But rather than try and select which stock might fall, he opts for a basket of financial players with the ProShares Trust Short Financials (NYSE: SEF). As an "inverse" fund, this moves in the opposite direction of the underlying index. (Read the full article here.)

And for even higher risk and volatility, Michael Shulman, editor of ChangeWave Shorts, looks to the ProShares UltraShort Financials (NYSE: SKF), an inverse double fund. Not only does it move in the opposite direction of financial stocks, but it moves twice as much. (Read the full article here.)

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

International investing expert Nicholas Vardy looks to the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (AMEX: EEM) as his favorite investment idea for 2009.

In his Global Stock Investor, he explains, "The exchange-traded fund is a bet that the initiatives of policy makers across the globe will be sufficient to trigger a sustained bounce in emerging markets stocks between now and the end of 2009.

"The policy responses to the global economic crisis have been both massive and coordinated. The European Central Bank has entered into foreign currency swaps with Iceland and Switzerland, even though they are outside the eurozone.

"The European Union joined forces with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to provide loan facilities totaling $25 billion to Hungary.

"Recently, the U.S. Federal Reserve opened swap lines of $30 billion each to Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, and Singapore. All of these efforts combined will ease the shortage of dollars that has ravaged emerging markets.

"iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (ASE: EEM) is a bet on on a short-term bottom in emerging markets," says international expert Nick Vardy in The Global Bull Market Alert.

"This recommendation is based on the belief that the initiatives of policy makers across the globe will trigger a sustained, short-term bounce between now and the end of the year.

"First, the policy responses to the global economic crisis have been both massive and coordinated. These efforts combined will ease the shortage of dollars that has ravaged emerging markets.

"Second, emerging market equities are as cheap as they have ever been. The benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets index is trading at a P/E in the single digits, down from 18.5 a year ago.

Mark Hulbert at MarketWatch wrote about influential investment newsletter editor, Richard Band's outlandish forecast that the Dow Jones Industrial Average may end the year at 16,000. This very bullish estimate of a 33% gain in the index from someone who's not typically a headline-grabber made Hulbert take note.

Hulbert, who tracks performance of some of the best newsletters in the business, has been tracking Band's Profitable Investing newsletter since 1991. In that time period, Band returned a 8.6% annualized return compared to an almost 11% annualized return in the Wilshire 5000.

Not bad but not outstanding. So why is Band all bulled up?

Technical factors have Band singing a very upbeat tune. The first, according to the article "has to do with the stock market's internal characteristics when it hit a low earlier this month. Band argues that that low possessed "many striking technical resemblances to the great bear market bottoms of the past.""

So, how does Band recommend playing the markets at this important juncture. He recommends a couple of market ETFs. Specifically, Band points to the iShares Russell 1000 Growth Fund (NYSE: IWF), the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSE: EEM). Another recommendation is in a fund I've never seen before (but maybe I should): the Selected American Shares (SLASX). This fund, a 4-star fund according to Morningstar, invests in US large caps and has returned an annualized return over the past 5 years of almost 13%.

Zack Miller is the managing editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund.

How should you invest $10,000 in the coming year? The question was posed to some of Wall Street's most respected seers by syndicated columnist Andrew Leckey, whose Successful Investing column appears in over 150 newspapers.

Here, courtesy of The Bull & Bear Financial Report, 9 leading Wall Street experts -- Elaine Garzarelli, Richard Crippps, Sheldon Jacobs, Don Phillips, Richard Yamarone, High Johnson, Mark Johannessen, Curt Weil, and Paul Nolte -- offer their answers to the $10,000 question.

"Amid relentless volatility in 2007, every participant last December produced an increase over the past 12 months. Our pundits for a second consecutive year are spreading their bets because there are so many economic and political wild cards in the coming presidential election year.