Rumors move markets, especially the commodity markets. The story of the day is a rumor that corn yields will be lower than forecast. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) originally forecast corn yields to be 165 bushels per acre. However, with the weather being hotter and drier east of the Mississippi, yields could come in lower, as reported by the Associated Press.

That sparked a rally in corn futures with the December contract up 17 cents to $4.64 per bushel (each one cent equals $50). Wheat prices are benefiting from the drought in Russia and Russia's export ban. December wheat futures shot up 27.5 cents to $7.41 per bushel. Soybeans also were higher by 26 cents to $10.35 per bushel for the November contract.

Earnings season will kick off after the bell on Monday when the first of the Dow Jones companies Alcoa (AA) reports its quarterly results. The Street expects the metal magnate to report earnings of 11 cents per share. But this morning, ahead of the earnings report J.P. Morgan felt it prudent to downgrade Alcoa to neutral from overweight. The broker also removed the company from its focus list and lowered its price target on the stock from $21.50 to $16.50.

JPMorgan wrote in a note it believes that AA "will still struggle to generate attractive returns at our strategist's 2011 aluminum price forecast of 92 cents/pound." J.P. Morgan did state that the business "has taken significant costs out of its business by closing high cost operations and through additional procurement and productivity savings."

Aluminum entity Alcoa (AA) is down in the dumps today. As of this writing, shares are off by over 10.5% to $15.60. Many, many shares have traded hands. Much higher than an average day's volume.

Driving the selling pressure was the earnings report, of course. For the fourth quarter, sales decreased 4% compared to the year-ago period. On a reported basis, the company lost 27 cents per share from continuing operations. This was a big improvement over the previous loss of $1.16 per share. Unfortunately, according to Bloomberg, the adjusted profit of a penny per share missed projections by 5 cents.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) volatility Elevated into 9/14 UAW contract expiration. GM is recently down .10 to $32.97. The UAW's current four-year contract with all three automakers expires on September 14th. GM September option implied volatility of 45 is above its 26-week average of 39 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Ford (NYSE: F) volatility Elevated at 57 into 9/14 UAW contract expiration. F is recently up .17 to $8.24. The UAW's current four-year contract with all three automakers expires on September 14th. F over all option implied of 57 is above its 26-week average of 45 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

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

With stainless steel prices surging, producers of beer are expecting to lose millions of dollars as kegs are stolen and sold for scrap. The industry is fighting back, lobbying for legislation that would bar scrap metal recyclers from buying the kegs without proof of ownership. Kegs can sell for as much as $55 dollars each. But since it can cost the brewers about $150 to buy a new keg, the loss to brewers far exceeds the gain for the thieves. According to the Associated Press's report:

...thieves know metal prices are on the rise and are on the prowl for kegs. They often find empty kegs unsecured -- in alleys and anywhere else restaurants, bars or distributors might store them -- and sell them at scrap yards.

Aha! And you thought stealing kegs was petty crime! But these thieves know metal prices are on the rise, and are making the savvy bet that the value of the kegs exceeds the chances of getting caught and arrested. Many of these thieves are probably reading BloggingStocks to keep up with economic trends!

Here's an idea for how the industry could fight back: With keg customers only standing to get back a deposit of $30 when they return a keg, there's little in the way of a strong incentive to return them, ethics aside. Brewers should consider raising the deposit to $55, an amount large enough that it would be more profitable to return the kegs than sell them for scrap. And what about the cases of kegs stolen from customers by thieves? Offer to buy them back from the scrappers, using the money from the keg deposit.

The brewers are demanding legislation to correct this, but that hardly seems necessary, except in cases where the state sets the keg deposit (which is also weird -- why would there be a state law about what the keg deposit should be?).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Intel Corp (INTC), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (AMD), Post Properties, Inc (PPS), Analogic Corp (ALOG) and the base metals sector were today's more noteworthy upgrades:

• DA Davidson raised Intel Corp's (NASDAQ: INTC) rating to Buy from Neutral based on market share gains and unexpected PC growth.

• American Technology upgraded Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) to Buy from Neutral as the firm expects shares to trade higher near-term with data not likely to get worse over the next six months. The firm suspects AMD could win a notebook platform at Toshiba Corp (TOSBF) and expects further offerings at Dell Inc (DELL).

• Banc of America upgraded shares of Post Properties Inc (NYSE: PPS) to Neutral from Sell and raised their target to $53 from $42 after REIT Wrap, a real estate industry newsletter, reported the company may have already received several unsolicited bids.

• Stanford upgraded Analogic Corp (NASDAQ: ALOG) to Buy from Hold based on improving fundamentals in the security and medical businesses.

• Goldman upgraded the base metals sector to Attractive from Neutral as the firm believes above-consensus metal prices for 2008-2009 are sustainable. The firm favors copper fundamentals over nickel, zinc and aluminum and views Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX) as its top pick.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Lehman upgraded Alon USA Energy, Inc (NYSE: ALJ) to Equal Weight from Underweight.

• Bear Stearns upgraded Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd (NASDAQ: SNDA) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

• Wesco International, Inc (NYSE: WCC) was upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

• BMO Capital raised ResMed Inc (NYSE: RMD) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

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

Clear Channel Comm (NYSE: CCU) -- options priced as if shareholders will approve $37.60 buyout. CCU struck a deal to sell itself for $37.60 to Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital LLC in November of 2006. Two-thirds of CCU shareholders are needed to vote for the deal on 4/19 for the sale to be completed. CCU options are active today. CCU April 35 calls are priced as if CCU will be trading at $36.40 by 4/20. May, July and October are priced as if two-thirds of CCU's shareholders will approve the $37.60 sale.

Comcast (NASDAQ: CMSCK) -- option implied volatility suggests non-directional Risk into Rally. CMCSK is recently up $1.03 to $27.29. Bloomberg ran a story with a headline of "Comcast Chief Roberts says his business is 'On Fire'." CMCSK overall option implied volatility of 24 is near its 26-week average of 23 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.

Option volume leaders today are: Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN), Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Neurochem Inc. (NASDAQ: NRMX).

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

The practice of architecture is more and more about sustainability every day. Sustainability is in vogue in every industry. I have been watching the dialog about yet another new dollar coin with mixed reactions. Since I am a designer as well as an investor I could not resist the opportunity to create something new. Once again the government has missed the boat. The new dollar should be made out of recycled material.

I think there should be a hard cardboard center with presidents' images and they should make it in cool colors. Then there should be a one millimeter outer ring of recycled metal that is the same from coin to coin and protects the cardboard core. This solution would be less expensive to make, lighter in weight, a little larger to distinguish from other coins, visually more interesting, and environmentally friendly.

Now if I can just think of a way to make the dollar sustainable from a value standpoint. That's much harder as we all know. But, I will let you know if I come up with anything. In the mean time maybe I'll mock-up my coin design and submit them to the government for review. And if they don't like the idea, then I will make them anyway and sell them as art. Then each will be worth more than a dollar! Hey maybe I'm on to something here?

Check out my other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.