Medivation and Other Big Movers In Healthcare on December 3, 2012

After the morning's trading, the Nasdaq is up 0.2%, the S&P 500 has declined 0.1% and the Dow is trading down 0.2%. The healthcare sector is the category of stocks relating to medical and healthcare goods or services. This sector includes hospital management firms, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), biotechnology and a variety of medical products. Stocks in the healthcare sector are often considered to be defensive because the products and services are essential. Even during economic downturns, people will still require medical aid and medicine to overcome illness. Having a consistent demand for goods and services makes this sector less sensitive to business cycle fluctuations.

These are the biggest movers in the Healthcare sector (XLV) (unchanged):

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Select Medical (NYSE:SEM)	$1.55 billion	-11.7%
Theravance (Nasdaq:THRX)	$2.2 billion	-5.5%
Acorda Therapeutics (Nasdaq:ACOR)	$1.01 billion	-4.4%
Medivation (Nasdaq:MDVN)	$3.84 billion	+3.2%
Medicines (Nasdaq:MDCO)	$1.16 billion	+3.2%
Myriad Genetics (Nasdaq:MYGN)	$2.34 billion	-3%
Pharmacyclics (Nasdaq:PCYC)	$3.69 billion	+2.3%

Broker Summary: OptionsXpress Online Trading Platform

Taking a 11.7% hit, Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) is currently trading at $9.75 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 132,878 shares. This is a sign that there will be less trading activity than there was yesterday.

Falling 5.5%, Theravance (Nasdaq:THRX) is currently at a share price of $21.24. The company's volume for the day so far is 219,076 shares, 0.6 times the average volume over the last three months.

Currently trading at $24.10 per share, Acorda Therapeutics (Nasdaq:ACOR) has fallen 4.4%. The company's volume for the day so far is 134,323 shares.

Medivation (Nasdaq:MDVN) is up 3.2% to reach a current price of $53.83 per share. The company's volume is currently 685,406 shares for the day, 0.8 times the average daily volume.

Medicines (Nasdaq:MDCO) has increased to a share price of $22.16, a 3.2% rise. The company is trading at a volume of 162,840 shares. This is a sign that there will be less trading activity than there was yesterday.

Myriad Genetics (Nasdaq:MYGN) has fallen 3% and is currently trading at $27.85 per share. With 1.4 million shares changing hands so far today, the company's volume is 1.4 times its average over the past three months.

After rising 2.3%, Pharmacyclics (Nasdaq:PCYC) is currently trading at a share price of $54.26. The company is currently trading a volume of 240,850 shares.

The Bottom Line The nature of the market is such that stocks will have good days and bad days. Paying close attention to the previous ratios will help you identify key times to adjust your strategy. Keep in mind that all these ratios should be compared against historical numbers and industry information in order to get a more complete picture.