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August 12 Market Report: Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index Extends Winning Streak, Wall Street Closes Mixed

Home Uncategorized August 12 Market Report: Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index Extends Winning Streak, Wall Street Closes Mixed

Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index rose modestly for the second straight trading session, closing slightly higher at $5,229.90 (+0.26%) but extending its winning streak to five days. The S&P 500 was flat to start the week, while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.21%) inched up and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.36%) ticked lower.

KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was the big advancer Monday with +9.1%. The American regional bank announced the 14.9% ownership stake of the Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS) following the Canadian big bank’s investment. AI king NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA), the bright spot on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, rose 4.08%.

The GovCon Index stayed positive, although decliners outnumbered gainers, 17 to 13. Curtiss-Wright (NYSE: CW) and BAE Systems were the top performers, and Mercury Systems (Nasdaq: MRCY) fell 4.66% to lead the losing bunch, along with Boeing (NYSE: BA).

Technology firm Mercury Systems announced appointing Brad Whittington as its senior vice president of Engineering effective Aug. 12. The appointee has 25 years of experience in aerospace and defense, having held senior executive positions at Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and NASA.   

Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR), GCI’s top performer thus far in 2024 (+71.11% year-to-date), snapped its four-day winning streak, sliding 2.1% to $29.38.

Also, on Monday, the U.S. Navy awarded Boeing a $264 million firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for inspections, modifications, and repairs to the F/A-18 E/F and EA-18G aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force awarded HII’s (NYSE: HII) Mission Technologies division a $209 million contract to support developing and sustaining its U.S. fighter and bomber weapons systems and subsystems.

Wall Street has somewhat stabilized after a wild and tumultuous week. This week’s economic calendar includes mostly inflation-related reports such as the consumer price index, core CPI, producer price index, and core PPI. However, Fed governor Michelle Bowman told a conference in Colorado Springs on Saturday that U.S. inflation is still uncomfortably above the two percent goal. 

Market Summary

Index Price Net Change % Change
GovCon Index Daily Average 5,229.90 13.47 0.26%
Dow Jones Industrial Average 39,357.01 -140.53 -0.36%
S&P 500 5,344.39 0.23 0.00%
NASDAQ 16,780.61 35.31 0.21%

Top 5 GovCon Index Daily Percentage Performers

Symbol Price Net Change % Change
CW 298.66 7.33 2.52%
BAESY 66.7 1.17 1.79%
HII 263.73 4.30 1.66%
NOC 501.66 7.32 1.48%
AVAV 178.05 2.03 1.15%

Top 5 GovCon Index Daily Net Performers

Symbol Price Net Change % Change
CW 298.66 7.33 2.52%
NOC 501.66 7.32 1.48%
LMT 556.91 5.33 0.97%
HII 263.73 4.30 1.66%
AVAV 178.05 2.03 1.15%

Top 5 GovCon Index Daily Percentage Decliners

Symbol Price Net Change % Change
MRCY 33.94 -1.66 -4.66%
BA 164.13 -3.78 -2.25%
PLTR 29.38 -0.63 -2.10%
FLR 48.12 -0.47 -0.97%
MMS 85.95 -0.80 -0.92%