Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index turned green, with gainers lifting the total to $4,609.23 (+0.88%). All the major U.S. indexes atoned for their sharp drops on mid-week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 300 points, while the Nasdaq Composite ticked higher. The S&P 500 resumed its rally and is within 1% of its all-time high.
The movement of the GovCon Index on Thursday was the opposite of Wednesday. This time, 27 constituents advanced, and only three, ICF (Nasdaq: ICFI), Mercury Systems (Nasdaq: MRCY), and Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR), ended in the red. The top performers were Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Maximus (NYSE: MMS). Nine other stocks had gains of more than 1%.
Defense stocks Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) rose on reports of new contract awards. The former’s aeronautics business segment secured a contract from the Naval Air Systems Command, while the latter’s business unit clinched four contracts with the Canadian government.
Lockheed’s contract is worth $135 million, and it will procure various special tooling and special test equipment to support production, retrofit modifications and flight test instrumentation for F-35 jets. Also, the contract will serve the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales customers and non-U.S. Department of Defense participants.
The $1.3 billion contract of General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada will support Canada’s Army’s Land Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) system.
Two economic reports showing a 4.9% annualized GDP rate in the third quarter and a modest rise in initial jobs claims to 205,000 in the week ending December 16 buoyed the stock market. However, the benchmark ten-year note fell 0.8 basis points to 3.870%. Investors are hopeful the Santa Rally begins on December 22, 2023.
Market Summary
| INDEX | PRICE | NET CHANGE | % CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| GovCon Index Daily Total | 4,609.23 | 40.69 | 0.88% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 37,404.35 | 322.35 | 0.87% |
| S&P 500 | 4,746.75 | 48.40 | 1.03% |
| NASDAQ | 14,963.87 | 185.93 | 1.26% |
Top 5 GovCon Index Daily Percentage Performers
| SYMBOL | PRICE | NET CHANGE | % CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACN | 348.75 | 9.25 | 2.72% |
| MMS | 83.91 | 1.85 | 2.25% |
| PLTR | 17.59 | 0.34 | 1.97% |
| CG | 40.91 | 0.62 | 1.54% |
| BAESY | 56.45 | 0.80 | 1.43% |
Top 5 GovCon Index Daily Net Performers
| SYMBOL | PRICE | NET CHANGE | % CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACN | 348.75 | 9.25 | 2.72% |
| LMT | 448.02 | 5.42 | 1.22% |
| GD | 252.43 | 2.87 | 1.15% |
| HON | 205.05 | 2.15 | 1.06% |
| NOC | 459.22 | 2.06 | 0.45% |
Top 5 GovCon Index Daily Percentage Decliners
| SYMBOL | PRICE | NET CHANGE | % CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICFI | 132.88 | -0.73 | -0.55% |
| MRCY | 36.77 | -0.16 | -0.43% |
| FLR | 39.01 | -0.02 | -0.05% |
| SAIC | 123.1 | 0.38 | 0.31% |
| GIB | 106.8 | 0.41 | 0.39% |
