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
| Â Company | Â Stock Price | Â $ Change | Â % Change |
| Â Serco Inc. | Â Â 2.76 | Â Â 0.135 | Â Â 5.14% |
| Â Maximus | Â Â 59.68 | Â Â 2.23 | Â Â 3.88% |
| Â Â Engility Holdings | Â Â 46.26 | Â Â 1.30 | Â Â 2.89% |
| Â SAIC | Â Â 52.18 | Â Â 1.23 | Â Â 2.41% |
| Â Â McKesson | Â Â 215.86 | Â Â 5.02 | Â Â 2.38% |
Market Summary
| Â Advancing Issues | Â Â 25 (86.66%) |
| Â Declining Issues | Â Â Â 5 (13.33%) |
| Â Unchanged Issues | Â Â Â 0 |
Executive Mosaic‘s GovCon Index is a composite index that tracks 30 of the largest publicly-traded Government Contracting (GovCon) firms.
