Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index fell 2.15% at the start of the week, then posted four straight daily gains, highlighted by the 1.74% jump Thursday. The index, which tracks the stock performances of 30 major government contractors, ended slightly higher at $5,216.43 Friday but registered a 0.03% week-on-week loss overall.
Wall Street had a tumultuous week, marked by a sharp decline on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.61%), S&P 500 (-0.04%), and Nasdaq Composite (-0.18%) staged a rally, although all three had a losing week.
Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR) was the top GCI and Wall Street performer during Thursday’s market recovery with +11.25%. The AI stock also gained the most in five days (+17.56%) among the GCI constituents.
Investors welcomed the news of Palantir Technologies’ marquee deal and collaboration with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to develop artificial intelligence solutions and enhance cloud, AI, and analytics capabilities of the U.S. Defense and Intelligence Community.
The GovCon Index’s weekly loss was the first after four winning weeks. On a year-to-date basis, the gain is 11.78% compared to the S&P 500’s +12% and Nasdaq’s +11.6%. The Dow Jones is up 4.8% thus far in 2024. Investors look forward to next week’s latest inflation-related data that could influence the Feds’ rate decision.
