Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index posted its most significant single-day drop in 2024, declining 1.43% to $4,983.32. Despite a quiet trading day at Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index closed above 17,000 for the first time and set another fresh record. The S&P 500 (+0.02%) advanced slightly, while the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial Average (-0.55%) shed more than 200 points.
Price volume leaders Tuesday were mostly mega-cap tech stocks. Chipmaker NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) also set a new record high, rising 6.98% to $1,139.01. Meme stock GameStop (NYSE: GME) jumped 25.16% after collecting$933 million from the sale of 45 million shares Friday. Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) in the healthcare sector sunk 8.05% to end its ten-day winning streak.
Only five GovCon Index stocks, including Boeing (NYSE: BA), ended positive. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (Nasdaq: KTOS) led the gainers. The Carlyle Group (Nasdaq: CG), Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), and Parsons (NYSE: PSN) were the worst performers among the 25 decliners.
AeroVironment (Nasdaq: AVAV) announced that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, selected the company to continue developing its X-Plane design for the agency’s Advanced Aircraft Infrastructure-Less Launch and Recovery program. The defense contractor will develop Wildcat, a Group 3 vertical take-off and landing uncrewed aircraft system.
Boeing stayed positive despite JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) lowering its price target from $270 to $230. The investment bank cited fewer aircraft deliveries and continued cash burn in Q2 2024 but maintained a positive long-term outlook for the plane maker.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said in a forum Tuesday that inflation could remain high indefinitely and intimated the possibility of zero rate cuts this year. In reaction to Kashkari’s statements, the ten-year Treasury yield climbed 7.3 basis points to 4.53%.
With not much earnings reports in the last week of May, investors will await the release of the personal consumption expenditures index and core PCE on Friday. An increase in the Feds’ preferred inflation measure could elevate market volatility. Latest GDP and initial jobless claims are on tap Thursday, including speeches by New York Fed President John Williams and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan.
