The GovCon Index broke the 73-point barrier for the first time Thursday to record a gain of 0.746Â points — or 1.004Â percent — and close at 73.471.
Oil prices rose more than 6 percent Thursday after an 8.7-percent decline Wednesday and investors also reacted to a strengthening of the dollar and earnings releases, Bloomberg reported.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.2 percent to 17, 884.88, the S&P 500 composite index rose 1.03 percent to 2, 062.52 and the NASDAQ composite index gained 1.03 percent to 4, 675.10.
Top Percentage Gainers
 Company |  Stock Price |  $ Change |  % Change |
 Serco Inc. |   2.76 |   0.135 |   5.14% |
 Maximus |   59.68 |   2.23 |   3.88% |
  Engility Holdings |   46.26 |   1.30 |   2.89% |
 SAIC |   52.18 |   1.23 |   2.41% |
  McKesson |   215.86 |   5.02 |   2.38% |
Market Summary
 Advancing Issues |   25 (86.66%) |
 Declining Issues |    5 (13.33%) |
 Unchanged Issues |    0 |
Executive Mosaic‘s GovCon Index is a composite index that tracks 30 of the largest publicly-traded Government Contracting (GovCon) firms.