Questcor Pharmaceuticals and Other Healthcare Stocks Making Big Moves on October 22, 2012

The Nasdaq has risen 0.3%, the S&P 500 has declined 0.2% and the Dow has fallen 0.2% after the morning's trading. 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) (+0.1%):

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Volcano (Nasdaq:VOLC)	$1.44 billion	+7.5%
Affymax (Nasdaq:AFFY)	$885.6 million	+5.8%
Questcor Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:QCOR)	$1.49 billion	+5.5%
ABIOMED (Nasdaq:ABMD)	$778.7 million	-4.5%
Sarepta Therapeutics (Nasdaq:SRPT)	$552.2 million	-4.5%
Infinity Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:INFI)	$952.9 million	-4.3%
Genomic Health (Nasdaq:GHDX)	$1.05 billion	-3.9%

Forex Broker Summary: Forex Capital Markets (FXCM)

Volcano (Nasdaq:VOLC) is at $28.87 per share after an increase of 7.5%. So far today, 1.2 million shares have changed hands.

Affymax (Nasdaq:AFFY) has risen 5.8% and is currently trading at $25.89 per share. At 819,355 shares, the company's volume so far today is 0.7 times the current daily average.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:QCOR) has moved up 5.5% and is currently trading at $26.37 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 1.9 million shares. At this rate, trading activity will likely be down from yesterday when 5.6 million shares changed hands.

Currently trading at $18.81 per share, ABIOMED (Nasdaq:ABMD) has fallen 4.5%. At 513,617 shares, the company's volume so far today is 1.2 times its current three-month average.

Sarepta Therapeutics (Nasdaq:SRPT) has decreased to $23.32 per share, a 4.5% fall. The company is currently trading a volume of 1.3 million shares.

Falling 4.3%, Infinity Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:INFI) is currently at a share price of $23.21. So far today, the company's volume is 208,750 shares, 0.7 times its current daily average.

Genomic Health (Nasdaq:GHDX) is currently trading at a share price of $33.09, a 3.9% decline. The company's volume for the day so far is 81,325 shares. This is on pace to fall short of yesterday's volume of 269,185 shares.

The Bottom Line The nature of the market is such that stocks will have good days and bad days. It is important to weigh current activity against historical performance when making any investment decisions. Keep in mind that all these ratios should be compared against historical numbers and industry information in order to get a more complete picture.