cyclical stock investment & finance definition

A stock whose value moves upward when the economy rises and declines when the economy slows. Com-panies in the fields of automobile manufacturing, travel, lodging, entertainment, and large equipment manufacturing, for example, are cyclical stocks. Non-cyclical stocks, in contrast, are those in companies whose business remains fairly static regardless of the economy. Food, consumer products, and drug companies, for example, are non-cyclical stocks.