Financial Stocks, Including CIT, Making Big Moves on October 24, 2012

The Nasdaq is unchanged, the S&P 500 has climbed 0.1% and the Dow is trading up 0.3% so far today. 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 increased 0.7% overall, and these are the biggest movers in the sector so far:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH)	$1.06 billion	+12.8%
Nationstar Mortgage Holdings (NYSE:NSM)	$3.11 billion	-8.4%
IBERIABANK (Nasdaq:IBKC)	$1.33 billion	+8.4%
Willis Group (NYSE:WSH)	$6.1 billion	-5.1%
Altisource Portfolio Solutions (Nasdaq:ASPS)	$2.56 billion	+4.3%
CIT (NYSE:CIT)	$7.33 billion	+3.6%
Health Net (NYSE:HNT)	$1.8 billion	-3.4%

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Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) has soared 12.8% to reach a current price of $25.64 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 614,950 shares.

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings (NYSE:NSM) has fallen 8.4% and is currently trading at $31.92 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 2.4 million shares, 2.2 times its average over the past three months.

IBERIABANK (Nasdaq:IBKC) has increased to a share price of $48.96, a 8.4% rise. The company's volume is currently 527,712 shares. This is greater than yesterday's volume of 271,574 shares.

After a decline of 5.1%, Willis Group (NYSE:WSH) has hit a share price of $33.44. The company's volume is currently 1.2 million shares for the day, 1.3 times the average daily volume.

After an increase of 4.3%, Altisource Portfolio Solutions (Nasdaq:ASPS) has reached a current price of $114.52. So far today, 80,711 shares have changed hands.

Increasing 3.6%, CIT (NYSE:CIT) is trading at $37.83 per share. With 1.2 million shares changing hands so far today, the company's volume is 0.7 times its current three-month average.

Health Net (NYSE:HNT) has decreased to $21.39 per share, a 3.4% fall. So far today, 582,804 shares of the company's stock have changed hands.

The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. Paying close attention to the previous ratios will help you identify key times to adjust your strategy. However, these fundamental metrics must be analyzed with historic data, industry information in addition to firm specific financial statements.