Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index posted a 2.21% week-on-week gain, its highest weekly gain in 2024. The index, which tracks the stock performances of 30 major government contractors, ended positive in four of five sessions for the week and rose 0.13% to $5,032.33 Friday.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial (+2.2%), S&P 500 (+1.9%) and Nasdaq Composite (+1.1%) notched weekly advances, too. The major U.S. indexes reacted favorably to the higher initial jobless claim in the week of May 4. However, most Federal Reserve officials who spoke during the week want to maintain the restrictive monetary policy until further notice.
Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR) started the week with an 8.06% gain but declined 8.37% in afterhours trading. Its Q1 2024 results showed lower commercial growth in the U.S. market. The erstwhile top GCI performer lost 11.7% for the week.
AeroVironment (Nasdaq: AVAV) gained 10.49% in five trading days to unseat Palantir Technologies as the top-performing GCI stock thus far in 2024. The year-to-date gain rose to 47.95% versus Palantir’s +19.98%. On Tuesday, the Department of Defense selected AeroVironment’s Switchblade 600 loitering munition system as the first weapon in the Replicator initiative.
Meanwhile, the crew flight test of Boeing‘s (NYSE: BA) Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station scheduled for May 6 did not push through. NASA, United Launch Alliance, and Boeing reset the launch date to not earlier than May 17.
