July 21 Market Close: GovCon Index Falls on Defense Prime Losses, Oil Decline Holds Down US Stocks

Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index tumbled Thursday on large declines among defense prime companies as U.S. stocks traded lower on falling oil prices and mixed earnings reports among blue chips.

The GovCon Index declined 0.694 points to 81.499  as none of the GCI’s 11 S&P 500-listed stocks closed at a gain with eight in the U.S. stock bellwether ended as the GCI’s worst net performers.

Three of the U.S.’ top five prime contractors all closed down by at least $2.00 and were the GovCon Index’s largest net decliners: Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN).

Lockheed fell $2.59 — or 1.01 percent Thursday and is down 1.86 percent over two days since the F-35 fighter jet maker cautioned investors over cash pressures as the company is currently subsidizing production of the plane without a new contract from the U.S. Defense Department.

Shares in Northrop plummeted $4.40 — or 1.98 percent — while Raytheon’s stock declined $3.26 — or 2.36 percent.

Engility Holdings (NYSE: EGL) added 3.16 percent after SunTrust Banks initiated research on the government services contractor and issued a “Buy” rating with a $30.00 price target.

Healthcare and utilities were the only S&P 500 sectors in positive after second quarter financial results from Southwest Airlines, Sherwin-Williams and Intel missed Wall Street expectations, per CNBC.

Crude oil futures in New York fell 2.19 percent to $44.75 a barrel on government data that showed U.S. inventories are at a historically-high level for this time of year and the Brent benchmark in London settled down $1.02 to $46.15 a barrel.

Top GovCon Index Net Gainers

Top GovCon Index Percentage Gainers

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