M&T Bank and Other Big Movers In Financial on December 24, 2012

The market is currently down, with the Nasdaq decreasing 0.2%, the S&P 500 declining 0.3% and the Dow falling 0.4%. 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) is currently ahead of the overall market, down only 0.2%, and its biggest movers are currently:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
American Capital Mortgage Investment (Nasdaq:MTGE)	$914.2 million	-3.5%
A.F.P Provida SA (NYSE:PVD)	$2.21 billion	-2.4%
ClearBridge Energy MLP Fund (NYSE:CEM)	$1.53 billion	+1.5%
RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR)	$3.82 billion	+1.1%
Allied World Assurance Co (NYSE:AWH)	$2.76 billion	+1%
IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE)	$9.18 billion	-1%
M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB)	$12.79 billion	-0.9%

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Currently trading at $24.33 per share, American Capital Mortgage Investment (Nasdaq:MTGE) has fallen 3.5%. So far today, the company's volume is 335,203 shares.

A.F.P Provida SA (NYSE:PVD) is trading at $98.05 per share, down 2.4%. The company's volume is currently 6,342 shares for the day, in line with the current daily average.

Increasing 1.5%, ClearBridge Energy MLP Fund (NYSE:CEM) is trading at $23.49 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 61,926 shares. This is a sign that there will be less trading activity than there was yesterday.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) is up 1.1% to reach a current price of $80.13 per share. With 164,711 shares changing hands so far today, the company's volume is 0.3 times the average volume over the last three months.

After an increase of 1%, Allied World Assurance Co (NYSE:AWH) has reached a current price of $79.16. So far today, 32,795 shares have changed hands.

IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE) is down 1% to reach $125.02 per share. The company's volume is currently 517,001 shares for the day, 0.2 times the average daily volume.

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) has fallen 0.9% and is currently trading at $98.98 per share. So far today, 117,950 shares of the company's stock have changed hands. This is on pace to fall short of yesterday's volume of 1.5 million shares.

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.