On Tuesday, investors drove call option implied volatility levels higher in the Mortgage Investment industry, and drove put option implied volatility levels higher in the Rental & Leasing Services industry.

Bullish Volatility Skews:

Capstead Mortgage Corp. (CMO)---part of the Mortgage Investment industry---came in at the top with a volatility skew of 1.24. This may come as a surprise as CMO is down -2.22 percent for the past month.

Much like VF Corp. and its North Face brand, Columbia Sportswear (COLM) is a leading cold-weather apparel maker. In October, the company raised its full-year revenue outlook after posting better-than-expected third-quarter results.

The clothing maker said it expects sales to fall 8% to 9% for the full year, which is much better than previous estimates for sales to fall in the low double digits

If you live practically anywhere east of the San Andreas Fault, you know about the deep freeze biting the nation. Temperatures in many areas of the country have been way below normal this winter, especially in the Midwest and East Coast, and unfortunately, many meteorologists think the 2010 cold front will bring plenty of chilly nights before it makes its welcome departure.

According to the 2010 Farmers' Almanac, this winter will likely see many more days with below-normal average temperatures. Not just in the Midwest and East Coast, but for about three-quarters of the nation. The fallout from these cold temps is a constriction of outdoor activity, more time indoors, increased use of heaters, and when you have to go outside, the need to bundle up.

John Reese is an expert in analyzing the investment criteria of "legendary" advisors with time-tested strategies. And one market approach that may be of particular interest to investors during the current period of market turmoil is the value strategy developed by Benjamin Graham. (For more on this strategy, see our other post, "Three Rules of Value Investing".)

In his Validea newsletter, John reese explains, "Benjamin Graham -- considered the greatest investment guru by Warren Buffett -- built his reputation by using an extremely conservative, low-risk approach to investing." Buffett, incidentally, was Ben Graham's student.

Reese continues, "To Graham, preserving one's original capital was every bit as important as netting big gains. Having lived through the 1929 market crash, it's no surprise that the strategy Graham laid out in his classic book The Intelligent Investor was a conservative, loss-averse approach.

"To Graham, an investment wasn't something that could be turned into quick, easy profits; anything that offers such 'easy' rewards also comes with substantial risk, and Graham abhorred risk. In terms of specifics, Graham's approach limited risk in a number of ways, and my Graham-based model lays out several of those methods.

My recent Investing in Oregon post took a look at some companies that the Motley Fool had featured in its investigation of investment opportunities in the Beaver State, including Precision Castparts Corp. (NYSE: PCP), StanCorp Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: SFG), FLIR Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR), and Columbia Sportswear Co. (NASDAQ: COLM).

But the Motley Fool article also mentioned that one of the most prominent business influences in Oregon wasn't even headquartered in the state: semiconductor giant Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) from Santa Clara, California. It also included mention of four Oregon-based businesses that provided support for Intel: Tektronix Inc. (NYSE: TEK), Mentor Graphics Corp. (NASDAQ: MENT), Triquint Semiconductor Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT), and Electro Scientific Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ESIO). One could imagine that Intel's impressive earnings report this week should have been good news for these supporting companies.

Beaverton-based Tektronix, widely known as Tek, is one of the leading makers of test and measurement equipment, such as digital multimeters, logic analyzers, and curve tracers, and oscilloscopes. Tek will win its seventh technical Emmy this year. Tek beat Wall Street expectations in its previous three quarters, reporting earnings per share of 40 cents for its first quarter FY2008. But the consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial was to hold shares of Tek. The share price reached a 52-week high of $37.95 on Monday when it was announced that Danaher Corp. (NYSE: DHR) will acquire Tek. Tool and equipment maker Danaher just announced record third quarter results.

The end of Oregon Trail may not be the trapping and logging region that it once was, but the Beaver State still has a thriving agriculture sector, including such products as potatoes, apples, hops, and hazelnuts (more than 90% of domestic production of hazelnuts). But the Pacific Northwest is known today as a high-tech region, with growth through both domestic relocation and foreign immigration. The lack of a sales tax in Oregon probably doesn't hurt when it comes to attracting investment and labor.

When the Motley Fool investigated investment opportunities in Oregon earlier this year, first on their list was, of course, Oregon's largest public company, Beaverton-based Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE), the world's largest shoemaker. We pretty regularly cover Nike here at BloggingStocks. The Motley Fool also took a look at Precision Castparts Corp. (NYSE: PCP), StanCorp Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: SFG), FLIR Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR), and Columbia Sportswear Co. (NASDAQ: COLM).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Genesis Microchip Inc (GNSS), Columbia Sportswear Co (COLM) and Gentex Corp (GNTX) were today's most notable downgrades:

• Genesis Microchip Inc (NASDAQ: GNSS) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Roth Capital, citing the loss of significant market share, and to Market Weight from Overweight at Thomas Weisel following the company's disappointing earnings report.

• Columbia Sportswear Co (NASDAQ: COLM) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Matrix USA based on valuation.

• Calyon downgraded Gentex Corp (NASDAQ: GNTX) to Sell from Neutral.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Following the company's fourth-quarter report, Buckingham downgraded International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (NYSE: IFF) to Neutral from Accumulate.

• Bank of America downgraded Clear Channel Communications Inc (NYSE: CCU) to Neutral from Outperform with a $37 target, as shares are pricing a best-case scenario of a deal and sees downside risk if the deal falls apart.

• Following fourth-quarter results and reduced guidance, Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Phelps Dodge Corp (NYSE: PD) to Market Perform from Outperform with a $125 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).