It has been one month since the invasion, known as “special operation” by Russians, of Ukraine began. Great Nations are putting heavy sanctions on Russia in order to cripple its economy, but Russia still shows some resilience while continuing the operation to take Kyiv.
The war has been dragged on as western countries backed Ukraine by not sending troops, but firearms instead. In that time span, shares of major U.S. aerospace and weapon-related companies were surging as the main feeder of weapons to Ukraine is none other than the United States of America, putting billions of dollars of the government budget to aid Ukraine.
The iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF, which is the largest of its kind with 33 equity holdings, rose 8.94% to $112.56 in a month, nearly at its record high of $120 made in February 2020.
Some weapons such as Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that the U.S. sent to Ukraine are produced by Raythoen Technologies and Lockheed Martin. The share price of both stocks rose 3.66% and 9.83% in a month, respectively.
Other weapon stocks, known as defense stocks, were also on an uptrend as well. In the past month, General Dynamics rose 5.71%, Northrop Grumman gained 10.96%, Huntington Ingalls Industries increased 1.87%.
Meanwhile, White House has been reportedly in a rush to replace thousands of U.S.-made Javelin and Stinger missiles pulled from European and American stockpiles for Ukraine.
Most of the defense stocks have outperformed Wall Street in the past month as the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded a 1.91% gain in this time span. Meanwhile, S&P 500 rose 3.09% and Nasdaq Composite increased 3.63%.
According to analysts, the ongoing tensions and confrontations between Russia and Ukraine should drive share prices of these defense stocks higher in the long term, citing that global defense spending is set to increase.
