Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) last Saturday yanked its $44.6 billion bid for struggling Internet-search pioneer Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) after the two companies were unable to come to terms over the buyout price.

Recently, at a party in New York, I mentioned that I had been talking to various groups in the United States and Europe about investment opportunities in the commodities market. Before I could get out one more word, a woman interrupted me. “Commodities!” she exclaimed, with the kind of incredulity in her voice that Manhattanites reserve for people moving to Los Angeles. “But my brother invested in pork bellies and lost his shirt. And he’s an economist!”

Many economists are finally starting to use the “recession” word to describe the U.S. economy. Almost daily, someone is calling the bottom of the market. And many investors are sitting on the sidelines with their money until this magical moment is actually reached.

Negotiations continue between Microsoft and Yahoo! about a possible merger between the software behemoth and the Internet giant.  Which of the names above do you like the best?