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Wall Street cheers defense in election season

Football fans aren’t the only ones talking about shut- down defenses. Wall Street is talking up U. S. defense stocks no matter who wins the presidential election in November.

“After five years of austerity in the defense budget, we expect defense spending to increase regardless of whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins the presidency,” Dan Clifton, a policy strategist at Strategas Research Partners, told clients in a research note Wednesday. A Trump win would boost defense spending more, he adds.

If Clinton wins, Boeing shares should benefit from the Democrat likely reinstating the Export- Import Bank, which supplies credit to foreign buyers of U. S. goods. If Trump wins, defense companies will gain, including aircraft maker Lockheed- Martin; General Dynamics, which makes combat vehicles; and Textron, which makes unmanned aircraft systems and surveillance systems.

Joe Quinlan of Bank of America Global Wealth & Investment Management and U. S. Trust wrote, “Given this environment ... we reiterate one of our high-conviction investment themes of ... U. S. defense companies.”