Mr. Market and the Deathly Hallows

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In a move that will likely cheer Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL) investors, J.K. Rowling has decided on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the title of the seventh book in the series. Unfortunately for publisher Scholastic, this is also the final entry in the series, so it may as well be called Harry Potter and the Death of Scholastic's Golden Goose.

However, realizing that Mr. Market and the Deathly Hallows would probably make a good read for a bearish take on Wall Street's near-term prospects, here are some business books and programs I would not want to see in 2007:

• Geekonomics: A study on how Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is able to take financial hits on the hardware side of things, such as the Xbox 360 and the Zune player, and still come through with huge overall margins thanks to giant markups on the software side.
• The Wisdom of Surowieckis: Not only am I a fan of Jim Surowiecki, I had the honor of working alongside him here at The Motley Fool in the mid-1990s on features like The Daily Double and Dueling Fools. My, how the former TMF Cinder has blown up big this past year.
• Jim Cramer's Mad TV Money: Sketch comedy at its finest, with a CNBC rock star changing bull and bear costumes on a whim to keep the churn alive.
• Kevin Rollins: A Memoir: If departed chieftains like Carly Fiorina and Jack Welch are writing business best-sellers these days, can we shove some of the more beleaguered CEOs off to book deals? In Rollins' defense, the Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) leader took over from Michael Dell at the worst possible time.

None of those sound too appetizing, right? I didn't think so. As for our favorite young wizard, Mr. Potter's final book won't be just a loss for Scholastic. Last time out, Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) ran a Harry Potter meter on its front page that counted the number of copies sold leading to its July 2005 release. In the bricks-and-mortar world of Muggles, bookstore giants like Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) throw midnight release parties.

Rest assured that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will get all of those hype machines kicking up in earnest. Whether Rowling has decided to kill off Harry or not, it will also be a bittersweet peak for so many other companies that were just starting to believe in the power of magic.

Microsoft and Dell are Inside Value newsletter service selections, while Amazon.com and Dell have been recommended by David Gardner for his Stock Advisor subscribers. Follow the preceding links to try either newsletter free for 30 days.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz isn't much for casting spells, though he does play a mean game of quidditch. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.