The GovCon Index turned upward in the last two hours of trade Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced it would baseline interest rates unchanged and closed at a gain of 0.599 points to 73.987.
Index stock Vectrus (NYSE: VEC) led all gainers at 9.44 percent after the information technology and communications contractor posted earnings and revenue that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for both 2015 and the fourth quarter.
Colorado Springs-based Vectrus’ outlook forecasts little change in both figures for 2016 and the company also announced a plan to invest further in IT and communication services over the next two-to-three years to offset declines in Afghanistan-based work.
Wednesday’s close puts Vectrus’ shares at a 4.31-percent gain from the start of the year and down 32.79 percent over 12 months.
U.S. stocks accelerated into positive territory from 2 p.m. Eastern with the S&P 500 composite index up one-half percent at the close after the Fed cut back its expected number of interest rates this year and the levels of such increases.
The Fed left the current interest rate target at between 0.25 and 0.5 percent.
According to Bloomberg, the median of Fed leaders’ projections has the forecasted benchmark interest rate at 0.875 percent that indicates two quarter-point increases this year.
Top GovCon Index Gainers
| Symbol | Company | $ Current Price | Net Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VEC | Vectrus | 21.80 | 1.88 | +9.44% |
| I | Intelsat | 2.30 | 0.14 | +6.48% |
| SAIC | SAIC | 48.22 | 2.25 | +4.89% |
| MANT | ManTech International | 30.88 | 1.02 | +3.42% |
| GIB | CGI Group | 44.41 | 1.06 | +2.45% |
Market Summary
| Advancing GovCon Index Issues | 25 |
| Declining GovCon Index Issues | 5 |
| Unchanged GovCon Index Issues | 0 |
| Index | Value | Net Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| GovCon Index | 73.987 | +0.599 | +0.816% |
| S&P 500 | 2, 027.22 | +11.29 | +0.56% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 17, 325.76 | +74.23 | +0.43% |
| NASDAQ | 4, 763.97 | +35.30 | +0.75% |
