GovCon Wire Your Direct Source for Government Contracting News 
The GovCon Index recovered some ground from a three-day stretch of losses Thursday with a gain of 0.868 points — or 1.191% percent — to close at 72.081.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) was the index’s largest gainer at 5.8 percent or a second straight day and Northrop Grumman‘s (NYSE: NOC) stock jumped 2.16 percent after the company said profit and revenue increased in its fourth quarter.
ATK (NYSE: ATK) also saw its stock price grow after the company reported higher third-quarter revenue and profit for its aerospace and defense groups in the company’s final earnings release before those groups merge with Orbital Sciences (NYSE: ORB).
Data from the Labor Department that showed a drop in jobless claims last week and gains by blue-chip stocks helped to drive U.S. stocks up, CNBC reported.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.31 percent to 17, 416.85, the S&P 500 composite rose 19.09 points to 2, 021.25 and the NASDAQ composite index gained 0.98 percent to 4, 683.41.
Top Percentage Gainers
| Company | Stock Price | $ Change | % Change |
| Boeing | 147.78 | 8.14 | 5.83% |
| ATK | 132.71 | 5.04 | 3.95% |
| Northrop Grumman | 157.93 | 5.77 | 3.79% |
| Cubic Corp. | 52.97 | 1.50 | 2.91% |
| Navistar | 30.34 | 0.84 | 2.85% |
Market Summary
| Advancing Issues | 18 (60.00%) |
| Declining Issues | 12 (40.00%) |
| Unchanged Issues | 0 |
The Executive Mosaic GovCon Index is a composite index that tracks 30 of the largest publicly-traded Government Contracting (GovCon) firms.
