Principal and Other Financial Stocks Making Big Moves on November 28, 2012

So far today, the Nasdaq remains relatively unchanged, the S&P 500 is trading up 0.1% and the Dow has increased 0.2%. 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 up 0.3% overall, and these are the biggest movers in the sector so far:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Commerce Bancshares (Nasdaq:CBSH)	$3.41 billion	-8%
RLI (NYSE:RLI)	$1.5 billion	-7.1%
Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS)	$1.29 billion	-4.5%
Principal (NYSE:PFG)	$8.1 billion	-3.2%
Nationstar Mortgage Holdings (NYSE:NSM)	$2.45 billion	+2.7%
Greenhill & Co (NYSE:GHL)	$1.36 billion	-1.8%
SVB Financial (Nasdaq:SIVB)	$2.51 billion	-1.7%

Forex Broker Summary: Forex Capital Markets (FXCM)

Commerce Bancshares (Nasdaq:CBSH) is down 8% to reach $35.54 per share. So far today, 406,412 shares of the company's stock have changed hands.

RLI (NYSE:RLI) is currently trading at a share price of $65.35, a 7.1% decline. The company's volume is currently 41,274 shares for the day, in keeping with its current daily average.

At $28.18, Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS) has slipped 4.5%. So far today, 48,214 shares have changed hands.

Principal (NYSE:PFG) has decreased to $26.45 per share, a 3.2% fall. At 1.3 million shares, the company's volume so far today is one times the current three-month average.

Increasing 2.7%, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings (NYSE:NSM) is trading at $28.78 per share. The company's volume is currently 304,678 shares. This is on pace to fall short of yesterday's volume of 799,215 shares.

Slipping 1.8%, Greenhill & Co (NYSE:GHL) is currently trading at $47.82 per share. At 70,609 shares, the company's volume so far today is 0.3 times its current daily average.

Falling 1.7%, SVB Financial (Nasdaq:SIVB) is currently at a share price of $55.45. The company's volume for the day so far is 57,334 shares.

The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. It is important to weigh current activity against historical performance when making any investment decisions. Tools like valuation ratios and profit margins, however, are only as useful as the context you put them in; remember to take historical data and competitor performance into account.