Capital Goods Stocks, Including Kubota Corporation, Making Big Moves on December 19, 2012

The Nasdaq has moved up 0.1%, the S&P 500 has fallen 0.1% and the Dow remains relatively unchanged after the morning's trading. The capital goods sector is the category of stocks related to the manufacture or distribution of goods. The sector is diverse, containing companies that manufacture machinery used to create capital goods, electrical equipment, aerospace and defense, engineering and construction projects. It is also referred to as the "industrials sector". Performance in the capital goods sector is sensitive to fluctuations in the business cycle. Because it relies heavily on manufacturing, the sector does well when the economy is booming or expanding. As economic conditions worsen, the demand for capital goods drops off, usually lowering the prices of stocks in the sector.

The Capital Goods sector (XLI) has remained steady so far today and here are its biggest movers:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
AAR (NYSE:AIR)	$668.6 million	+5.3%
CRH PLC (NYSE:CRH)	$13.74 billion	+4.7%
Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (NYSE:CBI)	$4.13 billion	+3.3%
Gardner Denver (NYSE:GDI)	$3.62 billion	+3.1%
Makita Corporation (Nasdaq:MKTAY)	$6.05 billion	+2.9%
Cubic (NYSE:CUB)	$1.24 billion	+2.2%
Kubota Corporation (NYSE:KUB)	$14.23 billion	+1.9%

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Rising 5.3%, AAR (NYSE:AIR) is currently trading at $17.63 per share. The company is trading at a volume of 255,163 shares.

After rising 4.7%, CRH PLC (NYSE:CRH) is currently trading at a share price of $19.92. The company's volume is currently 96,450 shares for the day, 1.1 times the current daily average.

Increasing 3.3%, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (NYSE:CBI) is trading at $44.03 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 1.9 million shares.

Gardner Denver (NYSE:GDI) is at $76 per share after an increase of 3.1%. At 805,119 shares, the company's volume so far today is 0.6 times its current three-month average.

After an increase of 2.9%, Makita Corporation (Nasdaq:MKTAY) has reached a current price of $45.85. The company's volume is currently 1,500 shares. This is a sign that there will be less trading activity than there was yesterday.

Cubic (NYSE:CUB) is up 2.2% to reach a current price of $47.56 per share. At 65,853 shares, the company's volume so far today is 0.8 times the average daily volume.

Kubota Corporation (NYSE:KUB) has risen 1.9% to hit a current price of $57.76 per share. The company is currently trading a volume of 9,064 shares.

The Bottom Line On any given day, a particular stock may see positive or negative change in its share price. 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.