China Life Insurance Company Ltd Among Financial's Biggest Movers on November 20, 2012

This morning, the market has been relatively quiet. The Nasdaq remains relatively unchanged; the S&P 500 has remained steady; and the Dow is unchanged. 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) has risen 0.5% despite little change in the market overall. Currently, the biggest movers in the sector are:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Eaton (NYSE:EV)	$3.48 billion	+3.8%
First Cash Financial Services (Nasdaq:FCFS)	$1.35 billion	-2.7%
StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE:SFG)	$1.49 billion	-2.7%
Primerica (NYSE:PRI)	$1.63 billion	-2.4%
SVB Financial (Nasdaq:SIVB)	$2.41 billion	+2.2%
Virtus Investment Partners (Nasdaq:VRTS)	$817.1 million	+2.1%
China Life Insurance Company Ltd (NYSE:LFC)	$82.61 billion	-2.1%

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Eaton (NYSE:EV) is currently trading at $31.37 per share, a 3.8% increase. So far today, 600,847 shares have changed hands.

First Cash Financial Services (Nasdaq:FCFS) is down 2.7% to reach $45.93 per share. At 55,968 shares, the company's volume so far today is 0.3 times the current daily average.

StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE:SFG) is currently trading at a share price of $32.69, a 2.7% decline. The company's volume is currently 67,973 shares. This is on pace to fall short of yesterday's volume of 272,249 shares.

After a decline of 2.4%, Primerica (NYSE:PRI) has hit a share price of $27.64. With one million shares changing hands so far today, the company's volume is 5.1 times the average volume over the last three months.

Increasing 2.2%, SVB Financial (Nasdaq:SIVB) is trading at $55.36 per share. This morning, the company is trading a volume of 52,260 shares.

After an increase of 2.1%, Virtus Investment Partners (Nasdaq:VRTS) has reached a current price of $106.50. The company's volume is currently 21,635 shares for the day, 0.4 times its current daily average.

China Life Insurance Company Ltd (NYSE:LFC) is trading at $42.92 per share, down 2.1%. The company's volume for the day so far is 96,967 shares. This is on pace to reach yesterday's trading volume of 218,819 shares.

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.