Aerospace and defense companies are among the few groups of stocks rising in Friday trading, with escalating tensions between the US and Iran boosting the war-driven industries.
The S&P 500 Aerospace & Defense Industry Index climbed as much as 1.5%, while major indexes slid roughly 1% at their intraday lows.
A US airstrike killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Thursday, leading global stocks to drop while gold and oil spiked. The attack came "at the direction of" President Trump, according to the Defense Department, and was meant to deter "future Iranian attack plans."
Iranian officials quickly responded to the strike, with the nation's supreme leader warning "harsh retaliation is waiting" for the US.
All three major US stock indexes are down as traders flee the volatile market, but a select few firms are surging on the heightened chance of armed conflict between the US and Iran.
Here are the seven major defense and aerospace stocks rising in Friday trading, ranked in ascending order of intraday performance.
7. General Dynamics (GD)
Intraday performance: up as much as 0.8%
Market cap: $51.9 billion
6. TransDigm (TDG)
Intraday performance: up as much as 1.1%
Market cap: $30.6 billion
5. Huntington Ingalls (HII)
Intraday performance: up as much as 1.6%
Market cap: $10.6 billion
4. Raytheon (RTN)
Intraday performance: up as much as 2.4%
Market cap: $63.6 billion
3. L3Harris Technologies (LHX)
Intraday performance: up as much as 3.6%
Market cap: $46.4 billion
2. Lockheed Martin (LMT)
Intraday performance: up as much as 4.2%
Market cap: $117.4 billion
1. Northrop Grumman (NOC)
Intraday performance: up as much as 5.5%
Market cap: $62.7 billion
Article originally appeared in Business Insider
Credit: NYSE, WSJ, Business Insider
© De Angelis & Associates 2020. All Rights Reserved.