Copa Holdings Among Transportation's Biggest Movers on November 8, 2012

The market is having a bad day so far. The Nasdaq has slipped 0.5%; the S&P 500 is trading down 0.2%; and the Dow has decreased 0.2%. 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.

Despite a bad day for the market overall so far, the Transportation sector (IYT) is up 0.4% and its biggest movers are currently:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
AMERCO (Nasdaq:UHAL)	$2.21 billion	+4.4%
Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA)	$4.2 billion	+2.9%
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC)	$2.73 billion	-2.9%
Teekay (NYSE:TK)	$2.15 billion	+2.7%
GulfMark Offshore (NYSE:GLF)	$815 million	-2.6%
Hornbeck Offshore Services (NYSE:HOS)	$1.24 billion	-2.5%
Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII)	$2.15 billion	-2.3%

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AMERCO (Nasdaq:UHAL) is currently trading at $117.47 per share, a 4.4% increase. So far today, 18,223 shares have changed hands.

Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA) is currently trading at $97.66 per share, a 2.9% increase. So far today, the company's volume is 218,273 shares, 0.7 times its current daily average.

Slipping 2.9%, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC) is currently trading at $47.33 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 14,580 shares.

Teekay (NYSE:TK) has moved up 2.7% and is currently trading at $31.95 per share. With 62,064 shares changing hands so far today, the company's volume is 0.2 times the average volume over the last three months.

Currently trading at $29.48 per share, GulfMark Offshore (NYSE:GLF) has fallen 2.6%. The company's volume for the day so far is 61,419 shares.

Falling 2.5%, Hornbeck Offshore Services (NYSE:HOS) is currently at a share price of $34.16. So far today, the company's volume is 181,793 shares, 0.3 times the current daily average.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) is trading at $42.47 per share, down 2.3%. The company's volume is currently 132,243 shares. At this rate, trading activity will likely be down from yesterday when 564,031 shares 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.