TransCanada Corporation and Other Utilities Stocks Making Big Moves on October 25, 2012

It's been a quiet morning for the market. The Nasdaq is unchanged; the S&P 500 remains relatively unchanged; and the Dow has remained steady. The utilities sector is a category of stocks for utilities such as gas and power. It contains companies such as electric, gas and water firms and integrated providers. Because utilities require significant infrastructure, these firms often carry large amounts of debt. With a high debt load, utilities companies become sensitive to changes in the interest rate. As interest rates rise or drop, the debt payments will increase or decrease. The utilities sector performs best when interest rates are falling or remain low.

While the market overall has shown little change, the Utilities sector (XLU) is up 0.1% and its current biggest movers are:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Crosstex Energy (Nasdaq:XTEX)	$997.7 million	-1.9%
Huaneng Power International, Inc (NYSE:HNP)	$10.85 billion	+1.5%
Dominion (NYSE:D)	$30.07 billion	-1.5%
CPFL Energia S.A (NYSE:CPL)	$11 billion	+1.4%
Atlas (NYSE:ATLS)	$1.79 billion	-1.4%
Calpine (NYSE:CPN)	$8.38 billion	-1.3%
TransCanada Corporation (NYSE:TRP)	$30.9 billion	+1.3%

Forex Broker Summary: UFXMarkets

Currently trading at $16.04 per share, Crosstex Energy (Nasdaq:XTEX) has fallen 1.9%. The company's volume is currently 100,527 shares for the day, in line with the current daily average.

Huaneng Power International, Inc (NYSE:HNP) has moved up 1.5% and is currently trading at $31.35 per share. This morning, the company is trading a volume of 83,446 shares.

Dominion (NYSE:D) has fallen 1.5% and is currently trading at $51.68 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 2.4 million shares, 1.5 times the average volume over the last three months.

CPFL Energia S.A (NYSE:CPL) has increased to a share price of $23.19, a 1.4% rise. The company's volume for the day so far is 122,844 shares. This is on pace to fall short of yesterday's volume of 463,576 shares.

Slipping 1.4%, Atlas (NYSE:ATLS) is currently trading at $34.46 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 19,763 shares, 0.1 times the average daily volume.

Falling 1.3%, Calpine (NYSE:CPN) is currently at a share price of $17.71. So far today, the company's volume is 312,232 shares.

TransCanada Corporation (NYSE:TRP) is up 1.3% to reach a current price of $44.41 per share. At 73,021 shares, the company's volume so far today is 0.3 times the current three-month 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. 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.