Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index closed 0.75% higher at $4,828.64, averting a third straight daily loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.25%) and S&P 500 (-0.16%) posted modest gains, while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.06%) closed slightly below the flat line.
Eight of 11 S&P 500 primary sectors advanced, led by healthcare stocks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained recovered from Tuesday’s sharp selloff despite 70% of its constituents falling in red territory. E-commerce company eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) popped +9.86% on news that Meta (Nasdaq: META) will allow some of its listings on the Facebook platform.
2nd Daily Gain in January
The GovCon Index has registered its second daily gain in five trading days in January. Mercury Systems (Nasdaq: MRCY) topped 23 gainers with +3.51% and four other stocks advanced more than 2%. Palantir Technologies (Nasdaq: PLTR) is the worst performer for the third consecutive session following a 2.51% drop.
Defense stocks that secured contracts with the US Navy midweek ended their slump. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, a business unit of Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), was awarded a $678.4 million modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price order against a previously awarded basic ordering agreement. The retrofit and modification efforts are for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.
RTX (NYSE: RTX), through Raytheon, obtained a $333.3 million firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Standard Missile-6 full-rate production requirements, spares, and round design agent. This cumulative contract value could reach $908.1 million, including options if exercised.
General Dynamics Electric Boat, a subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) was awarded a not-to-exceed $188 million undefinitized contract action modification to previously awarded contract for construction spares associated with the Virginia Class Block V submarines.
Another Lockheed Martin business, Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, was awarded a $70.9 million cost-plus-incentive-fee, and cost-only modification to previously awarded contract to exercise options and provide funding in support of the AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 Surface Ship Undersea Warfare Combat System.
Latest Employment Report
The ADP National Employment report released on Wednesday showed that private sector employment in the US increased by 122,000 jobs in December. At the same time, annual pay rose 4.6% year-over-year. Nela Richardson, the chief economist at ADP, said, “The labor market downshifted to a more modest pace of growth in the final month of 2024, with a slowdown in both hiring and pay gains.
Meanwhile, the Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes on Dec. 17-18 revealed that policymakers expect persistent inflation risks and want a slower pace in easing interest rates.
