February 29 Market Close: GovCon Index Posts Decline, Ends at Modest Gain for Month

The GovCon Index fell into a decline over the final two hours of trade Monday to end the full session at a loss of 0.351 points to 72.136 but still end February at a gain for the month.

The Index rose 0.329 points in February as investors continued to welcome additional earnings reports from some government contractors that exceeded analysts’ estimates and the prospects of a new defense budget package in Congress.

February’s modest gain is a stark contrast to January, when the Index plummeted 6.67 percent and reflected global market volatility due to declining oil prices and uncertainties over China’s economic future.

By comparison, the S&P 500 composite index that also contains 11 GCI stocks declined 0.4 percent for the month.

Monday’s activity in U.S. financial markets was driven primarily by afternoon declines in energy stocks as new data said U.S. crude production declined to 9.1 million barrels a day, which Bloomberg reports is the lowest level since October.

U.S. stocks did not follow the movement of oil prices as crude futures in New York settled up 1.2 percent to $33.16 a barrel.

Top GovCon Index Gainers

Symbol	Company	$ Current Price	Net Change	% Change
NAV	Navistar International	8.41	0.33	4.08%
ICFI	ICF International	33.78	0.78	2.36%
CACI	CACI International	96.62	2.01	2.12%
HRS	Harris Corp.*	78.02	1.48	1.93%
I	Intelsat	1.72	0.03	1.78%