Again, U.S. market indexes found the energy for a late-day kick going into Monday’s close, with the Dow finishing +0.59%, the S&P 500 +0.66%, the small-cap Russell 2000 +1.05% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq — marking its 20th all-time high so far in year 2020 — finished up 1.11%, or slightly north of 10,056. The Nasdaq, now on a 7-day winning streak, got a boost from Virgin Galactic’s SPCE 16% jump in regular trading.
The Richard Branson-founded aerospace firm has reportedly signed a deal with NASA today for a “new astronaut readiness program” for private orbital space flight and trips to the International Space Station (ISS), the way Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully did late last month. This looks to create genuine competition with SpaceX in the Space Tourism sector just emerging. No specific numbers have been quoted for the deal at this time, but reportedly will entail all sorts of space travel — from government business to private citizen travel.
Shares of Virgin Galactic are now up 45% year to date, shortly following the company’s IPO last October. The company now sports a market cap of more than $3 billion — with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and a Value-Growth-Momentum grade of F (prior to this latest development). We imagine analysts will be busy re-assessing future quarter valuations based on the NASA deal. For more on this story, check out this short video: Why Is Virgin Galactic (SPCE) Jumping Today?
Monday was quiet on the economic data front, but things will heat up mildly as the week continues. Tuesday brings June’s Markit PMI Manufacturing and Services reads and New Home Sales for May, Wednesday gives us the IMF World Economic Outlook, with its Global Financial Stability report due Thursday. This will join new Initial Jobless Claims and a revised Q1 GDP report.
Next week, which will be shortened due to the Independence Day holiday, will nevertheless bring us big monthly labor market data. Alongside Initial Jobless Claims, a private sector ADP release with join the non-farm payroll data and a fresh Unemployment Rate.
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Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE): Free Stock Analysis Report
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