Murphy and Other NYSE Stocks Making Big Moves on October 16, 2012

This morning has been good for the market. The Nasdaq has risen 1.1%; the S&P 500 has increased 1%; and the Dow has moved up 1%. Today, more than half of all NYSE trades are conducted electronically, although floor traders are still used to set pricing and deal in high volume institutional trading.

The biggest movers traded on the NYSE so far are:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Bankrate (NYSE:RATE)	$1.45 billion	-24.7%
Bridgepoint Education (NYSE:BPI)	$580.1 million	-11.7%
Texas Industries (NYSE:TXI)	$1.15 billion	+11%
Costamare (NYSE:CMRE)	$1.03 billion	-10.9%
Murphy (NYSE:MUR)	$11.46 billion	+7.4%
Sandridge Mississippian Trust (NYSE:SDT)	$644.8 million	-6.4%
Westlake (NYSE:WLK)	$4.81 billion	+6.3%

Forex Broker Summary: UFXMarkets

Taking a 24.7% hit, Bankrate (NYSE:RATE) is currently trading at $10.92 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is seven million shares.

Bridgepoint Education (NYSE:BPI) is currently trading at $9.69 per share, after a steep drop of 11.7%. The company's volume is currently 428,658 shares for the day, two times the average volume over the last three months.

Texas Industries (NYSE:TXI) is currently at $45.71 per share after a dramatic increase of 11%. The company's volume is currently 305,425 shares.

Shares of Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) are currently trading at $13.57, a steep decline of 10.9%. The company's volume is currently 3.2 million shares for the day, 20.6 times the average daily volume.

Murphy (NYSE:MUR) is currently trading at $63.36 per share, a 7.4% increase. This morning, the company is trading a volume of four million shares.

Sandridge Mississippian Trust (NYSE:SDT) has fallen 6.4% and is currently trading at $21.55 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 716,036 shares, 2.5 times its average over the past three months.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) is up 6.3% to reach a current price of $76.76 per share. So far today, 241,663 shares of the company's stock have changed hands.

The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. It is important to weigh current activity against historical performance when making any investment decisions. Tools like valuation ratios and profit margins, however, are only as useful as the context you put them in; remember to take historical data and competitor performance into account.