The GovCon Index‘s three-day streak of consecutive gains ended Thursday with a decline of 0.171 points to 76.636 in a half-day Christmas Eve session for U.S. financial markets, which closed at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Declines in energy stocks drove U.S. stocks to slight losses and nine out of 10 S&P 500 sectors ended in negative territory with the composite index’s energy sector the biggest loser at 0.91 percent, according to Reuters.
Investors also examined the latest unemployment numbers that show claims fell to 267, 000 last week to fall below the consensus economist estimate of 270, 000 and that number has held below 300, 000 for 42 straight weeks to support the Federal Reserve‘s belief in labor market stability as evidence the economy could support the interest rate hike, Reuters reported.
Top GovCon Index Gainers
| Symbol | Company | $ Current Price | Net Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSRA | CSRA * | 28.02 | +1.01 | +3.74% |
| NAV | Navistar International | 9.74 | +0.23 | +2.42% |
| I | Intelsat | 4.47 | +0.10 | +2.29% |
| HRS | Harris Corp. * | 89.48 | +1.66 | +1.89% |
| HII | Huntington Ingalls Industries | 129.45 | +1.03 | +0.80% |
* Also listed in the S&P 500 index
Market Summary
| Advancing Issues | 14 |
| Declining Issues | 15 |
| Unchanged Issues | 1 |
| Index | Value | Net Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| GovCon Index | 76.636 | -0.171 | -0.220% |
| S&P 500 | 2, 060.99 | -3.30 | -0.16% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 17, 552.17 | -50.44 | -0.29% |
| NASDAQ | 5, 048.49 | Unchanged | Unchanged |
