China Life Insurance Company Ltd Among Financial's Biggest Movers on December 26, 2012

The morning has been bad for the market. The Nasdaq has declined 1.1%; the S&P 500 has decreased 0.6%; and the Dow has fallen 0.3%. 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.

The Financial sector (XLF) is currently ahead of the overall market, down only 0.3%, and its biggest movers are currently:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Altisource Portfolio Solutions (Nasdaq:ASPS)	$2.02 billion	-2.4%
China Life Insurance Company Ltd (NYSE:LFC)	$86.98 billion	+2.1%
Infinity Property and (Nasdaq:IPCC)	$669 million	+2%
Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH)	$13.68 billion	+1.9%
Alliance Data (NYSE:ADS)	$7.31 billion	-1.6%
MasterCard (NYSE:MA)	$59.04 billion	-1.3%
Validus (NYSE:VR)	$3.14 billion	+1.1%

Forex Broker Summary: Forex Capital Markets (FXCM)

Altisource Portfolio Solutions (Nasdaq:ASPS) has decreased to $84.56 per share, a 2.4% fall. This morning, 39,287 shares have been traded,.

China Life Insurance Company Ltd (NYSE:LFC) has risen 2.1% to hit a current price of $47.14 per share. So far this morning, 116,141 shares have changed hands. This is 0.6 times the current daily average.

Increasing 2%, Infinity Property and (Nasdaq:IPCC) is trading at $58.48 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 12,130 shares, 0.3 times the average volume over the last three months.

After an increase of 1.9%, Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) has reached a current price of $95.02. This morning, the company is trading a volume of 1,400 shares.

At $144.32, Alliance Data (NYSE:ADS) has slipped 1.6%. So far today, 63,376 shares have changed hands, consistent with the volume from yesterday lighter than yesterday's volume of 139,750 shares.

MasterCard (NYSE:MA) has fallen 1.3% and is currently trading at $488.39 per share. The company's volume for the morning is 126,717 shares. This is 0.2 times its average daily volume.

Validus (NYSE:VR) is at $33.91 per share after an increase of 1.1%. The company's volume for the day so far is 230,800 shares, 0.4 times the current three-month average.

The Bottom Line The nature of the market is such that stocks will have good days and bad days. 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.