Share of defense contractors caught a bid in early trading Thursday, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine fueled expectations of increased defense spending. The iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF gained 0.6% in premarket trading, while S&P 500 futures sank 2.6% toward a nine-month low. Among the defense ETF's biggest gainers, shares of Textron Inc. ran up 7.9%, Northrop Grumman Corp. rallied 3.2%, Lockheed Martin Corp. advanced 2.4%, Raytheon Technologies Corp. climbed 2.2% and General Dynamics Corp. gained 1.5%. Meanwhile, shares of Boeing Co. , of which about one-third of fourth-quarter revenue was from its commercial airplanes business, dropped 3.7%, as the invasion weighed on travel-related stocks.
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