The Index has recorded a full-year gain of 9.01 percent driven by a surge in volume for defense stocks after the November 13 Paris attacks, which helped spur the Index’s fourth quarter exit out of negative territory on a year-to-date basis then.
A slew of strong earnings reports from many Index stocks also contributed to the fourth quarter turnaround after a third quarter that saw entries in and out of the correction zone, or 10 percent down from the most recent high.
Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA) was the Index’s biggest gainer in its first year of existence after the merger of Orbital Sciences with ATK.
Leidos Holdings (NYSE: LDOS) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) were respectively second and third for the year after both companies posted third quarter earnings above analyst forecasts and won multi-billion dollar government contracts.
Leidos and its partners Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Cerner (Nasdaq: Cern) were chosen for the Defense Department’s electronic health record implementation contract, while Northrop was selected to build the Air Force’s Long Range Strike Bomber.
Of the three major U.S. indices, only the NASDAQ composite index ended the year in positive territory as both Dow and S&P 500 recorded their first negative years since 2008.
Declines in commodity prices drove U.S. stocks into the red for 2016 with crude oil the major focus for traders in the second half of 2015.
Both major oil price benchmarks declined sharply in 2015 crude futures in New York down 39.1 percent for the year and brent crude in London at a 43.88-percent decline.
Investors will also look ahead from the next year’s start to gauge further impacts from the Federal Reserve’s mid-December move to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.
Top GovCon Index Gainers for Dec. 31
Symbol | Company | $ Current Price | Net Change | % Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
I | Intelsat | 4.16 | +0.05 | +1.22% |
EGL | Engility Holdings | 32.48 | +0.32 | +1.00% |
CSRA * | CSRA | 30.00 | +0.25 | +0.84% |
BAH | Booz Allen Hamilton | 30.85 | +0.03 | +0.10% |
* Also listed in the S&P 500 index
Market Summary for Dec. 31
Advancing Issues | 4 |
Declining Issues | 25 |
Unchanged Issues | 1 |
Index | Value | Net Change | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
GovCon Index | 76.995 | -0.875 | -1.124% |
S&P 500 | 2, 043.94 | -19.42 | -0.94% |
Dow Jones Industrial Average | 17, 541.74 | -178.84 | -1.02% |
NASDAQ | 5, 007.41 | -58.43 | -1.15% |
Top GovCon Index Gainers for 2015
Symbol | Company | $ Current Price | % Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|
OA | Orbital ATK | 89.34 | +64.93% | |
LDOS | Leidos Holdings | 56.26 | +29.27% | |
NOC | Northrop Grumman | 188.81 | +28.10% | |
HNT | Health Net | 68.46 | +27.89% | |
OA | Orbital ATK | 86.90 | +21.00% |
Market Summary for 2015
(top table excludes CSRA, BAE Systems and Serco Group)
Advancing Issues | 19 |
Declining Issues | 8 |
Unchanged Issues | 0 |
Index | Value | %Â Change | |
---|---|---|---|
GovCon Index | 76.995 | Â +9.01% | |
S&P 500 | 2, 043.94 | -0.73% | |
Dow Jones Industrial Average | 17, 720.98 | -2.23% | |
NASDAQ | 5, 107.94 | +5.73% |