China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd and Other Big Movers In Transportation on December 17, 2012

On a good day for the market, the Nasdaq is trading up 0.5%, the S&P 500 has moved up 0.6% and the Dow has risen 0.5%. The transportation sector is a category of stocks relating to the transportation of goods or customers. It is made up of airlines, railroads and trucking companies. The performance of the transportation sector is sensitive to the price of oil. Because operations revolve around the use of vehicles, fuel prices represent a significant cost to transportation companies. As the price of oil rises, transportation companies will be expected to earn less. Inversely, these companies do well when the cost of fuel decreases.

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd (NYSE:CEA)	$4.32 billion	+5.1%
SkyWest (Nasdaq:SKYW)	$609.4 million	+4.1%
Con Way (NYSE:CNW)	$1.57 billion	-3.1%
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC)	$3.04 billion	+2.8%
Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK)	$3.03 billion	+1.6%
GulfMark Offshore (NYSE:GLF)	$918.9 million	+1.5%
GATX (NYSE:GMT)	$1.98 billion	+1.2%

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After rising 5.1%, China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd (NYSE:CEA) is currently trading at a share price of $20.24. So far today, the company's volume is 20,787 shares. This is on pace to reach yesterday's trading volume of 38,361 shares.

SkyWest (Nasdaq:SKYW) has risen 4.1% and is currently trading at $12.38 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 515,390 shares, 1.9 times the current daily average.

Slipping 3.1%, Con Way (NYSE:CNW) is currently trading at $27.19 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 319,079 shares.

Rising 2.8%, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC) is currently trading at $55.80 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 15,596 shares, 0.4 times the average volume over the last three months.

After an increase of 1.6%, Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) has reached a current price of $43.87. The company's volume for the day so far is 179,715 shares. At this rate, trading activity will likely be down from yesterday when 550,614 shares changed hands.

GulfMark Offshore (NYSE:GLF) has moved up 1.5% and is currently trading at $34.63 per share. The company's volume is currently 57,942 shares for the day, 0.2 times the average daily volume.

Increasing 1.2%, GATX (NYSE:GMT) is trading at $42.71 per share. So far today, 27,053 shares have changed hands.

The Bottom Line On any given day, a particular stock may see positive or negative change in its share price. It is important to weigh current activity against historical performance when making any investment decisions. Keep in mind that all these ratios should be compared against historical numbers and industry information in order to get a more complete picture.