Harley-Davidson and Other Big Movers In Consumer Cyclical on December 12, 2012

So far today, the Nasdaq has been relatively flat, the S&P 500 has climbed 0.2% and the Dow has increased 0.2%. The consumer cyclical sector is a category of stocks that relies heavily on the business cycle and economic conditions. Consumer cyclicals include industries such as automotive, housing, entertainment and retail. The category can be further divided into durable and non-durable sections. Durable cyclicals include physical goods such as hardware or vehicles, while non-durables represent items like movies or hotel services. The performance of consumer cyclicals is highly related to the state of the economy. They represent goods and services that are not considered necessities, but luxurious purchases. During contractions or recessions, people have less disposable income to spend on consumer cyclicals. When the economy is expanding or booming, the sales of these goods rise as retail and leisure spending increase.

The Consumer Cyclical sector (XLY) is trading up 0.2% overall, and these are the biggest movers in the sector so far:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Navistar (NYSE:NAV)	$1.7 billion	+4.6%
G-III Apparel (Nasdaq:GIII)	$729.5 million	-3.9%
KONAMI CORPORATION (NYSE:KNM)	$3.4 billion	+3.7%
Tempur-Pedic International (NYSE:TPX)	$1.67 billion	+2.6%
Wolverine World Wide (NYSE:WWW)	$2.07 billion	-2.5%
Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)	$10.77 billion	+2.3%
Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK)	$2.58 billion	+2.2%

Software Summary: Finviz.com Stock Screener

Navistar (NYSE:NAV) is currently trading at $22.48 per share, a 4.6% increase. So far today, the company's volume is 659,279 shares, on pace to finish the day below yesterday's volume of 1.8 million shares.

G-III Apparel (Nasdaq:GIII) is trading at $34.89 per share, down 3.9%. The company is currently trading a volume of 101,379 shares. This is in keeping with its current three-month average.

KONAMI CORPORATION (NYSE:KNM) has moved up 3.7% and is currently trading at $25.43 per share. At 10,900 shares, the company's volume so far today is 6.9 times the average daily volume.

Tempur-Pedic International (NYSE:TPX) has increased to a share price of $28.74, a 2.6% rise. The company is currently trading a volume of 376,354 shares.

Slipping 2.5%, Wolverine World Wide (NYSE:WWW) is currently trading at $41.21 per share. This morning, 129,982 shares have been traded, lighter than yesterday's volume of 501,378 shares.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) has risen 2.3% to hit a current price of $48.71 per share. So far today, 1.4 million shares have changed hands. This is 0.9 times its average volume over the past three months.

After rising 2.2%, Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) is currently trading at a share price of $28.81. So far today, the company's volume is 565,388 shares, in line with the current daily average.

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.