Arch Capital and Other Financial Stocks Making Big Moves on November 2, 2012

The Nasdaq remains relatively unchanged, the S&P 500 is down 0.2% and the Dow has fallen 0.3% after the morning's trading. The financial sector is the category of stocks containing firms that provide financial services to commercial and retail customers. This sector includes banks, investment funds, insurance companies and real estate. Financial services perform best in low interest rate environments. A large portion of this sector generates revenue from mortgages and loans, which gain value as interest rates drop. Furthermore, when the business cycle is in an upswing, the financial sector benefits from additional investments. Improved economic conditions usually lead to more capital projects and increased personal investing. New projects require financing, which usually leads to a larger number of loans.

On a quiet day for the market overall so far, the Financial sector (XLF) has slipped 0.2% and its biggest movers are currently:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Cardtronics (Nasdaq:CATM)	$1.26 billion	-12.1%
Encore Capital Group (Nasdaq:ECPG)	$714.7 million	-8.3%
Universal (NYSE:UAM)	$797.9 million	+7.1%
PartnerRe (NYSE:PRE)	$5.04 billion	-5.4%
RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR)	$4.09 billion	-5.1%
Arch Capital (Nasdaq:ACGL)	$6.07 billion	-4.8%
Everest Re (NYSE:RE)	$5.68 billion	-3%

Beginner's Guide To NinjaTrader Trading Software

Shares of Cardtronics (Nasdaq:CATM) are currently trading at $25, a steep decline of 12.1%. The company's volume is currently 935,733 shares for the day, seven times the average daily volume.

Slipping 8.3%, Encore Capital Group (Nasdaq:ECPG) is currently trading at $26.43 per share. The company's volume is currently 401,582 shares. This is greater than yesterday's volume of 181,623 shares.

Universal (NYSE:UAM) has risen 7.1% and is currently trading at $9.66 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 86,782 shares, 0.8 times its average over the past three months.

PartnerRe (NYSE:PRE) is down 5.4% to reach $76.69 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 500,420 shares.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) is trading at $76.79 per share, down 5.1%. At 741,361 shares, the company's volume so far today is 1.9 times its current daily average.

Arch Capital (Nasdaq:ACGL) is currently trading at a share price of $42.41, a 4.8% decline. So far today, 619,796 shares of the company's stock have changed hands.

At $106.40, Everest Re (NYSE:RE) has slipped 3%. With 184,159 shares changing hands so far today, the company's volume is consistent with its current three-month average.

The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. Keep in mind that all these ratios should be compared against historical numbers and industry information in order to get a more complete picture.