FedEx and More Big Movers in Transportation on October 10, 2012

The Nasdaq has remained steady, the S&P 500 has slipped 0.2% and the Dow has decreased 0.5% so far today. 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.

The Transportation sector (IYT) has risen 0.5% despite little change in the market overall. Currently, the biggest movers in the sector are:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
SkyWest (Nasdaq:SKYW)	$564.3 million	-9.2%
FedEx (NYSE:FDX)	$26.88 billion	+5.4%
Guangshen Railway Co. Ltd (NYSE:GSH)	$2.3 billion	+5%
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC)	$2.43 billion	+2.3%
Air (Nasdaq:AIRM)	$1.43 billion	-1.9%
Forward (Nasdaq:FWRD)	$866.7 million	+1.8%
Allegiant Travel (Nasdaq:ALGT)	$1.29 billion	+1.5%

Forex Broker Summary: Forex Capital Markets (FXCM)

Slipping 9.2%, SkyWest (Nasdaq:SKYW) is currently trading at $10 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 524,233 shares, 1.5 times its current daily average. If a stock price moves on high volume, this means that the change is a significant one.

Rising 5.4%, FedEx (NYSE:FDX) is currently trading at $90.19 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 5.4 million shares. Volume is used to evaluate how meaningful the price movement of a stock is.

Guangshen Railway Co. Ltd (NYSE:GSH) has risen 5% and is currently trading at $17.75 per share. At 27,233 shares, the company's volume so far today is 0.6 times the current three-month average. Volume is also used as a secondary indicator to help confirm what the price movement is suggesting.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC) is at $44.35 per share after an increase of 2.3%. So far today, the company's volume is 10,757 shares. This is on pace to fall short of yesterday's volume of 434,929 shares. As a stock moves up or down, it is important to pay attention to the trading volume. This indicates the level of interest: the higher the volume, the more the interest.

At $108.59, Air (Nasdaq:AIRM) has slipped 1.9%. The company's volume is currently 44,538 shares for the day, 0.8 times the average daily volume. Volume is an important indicator because it indicates how significant a price shift is.

Forward (Nasdaq:FWRD) has risen 1.8% to hit a current price of $30.30 per share. So far today, 55,456 shares have changed hands. If a stock is trading on low volume, then there is not much interest in the stock. On the other hand, if a stock is trading on high volume, then there is a lot of interest in the stock.

After an increase of 1.5%, Allegiant Travel (Nasdaq:ALGT) has reached a current price of $68.03. The company's volume for the day so far is 21,960 shares, 0.2 times its current three-month average. Volume indicates the level of interest that investors have in a company at its current price.

The Bottom Line The nature of the market is such that stocks will have good days and bad days. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. However, these fundamental metrics must be analyzed with historic data, industry information in addition to firm specific financial statements.