Al Root

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine hosted a news conference early on Wednesday to update Americans on Operation " Epic Fury."

Comments have defense stocks down in early trading.

"America is winning...decisively, devastatingly, and without mercy," said Hegseth to open his remarks. He characterized the mission as "very early," adding that results have been impressive. American and Israeli air forces have established complete air dominance, he said. Iran's naval forces have also been decimated.

"We will now begin to expand inland...creating additional freedom of maneuver for U.S. forces," said Caine, adding "we have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both for offense and defense."

There has been some concern about allied forces running low on interceptors that shoot Iranian missiles and drones from the sky. Iran has fired more than 500 missiles and 2,000 drones.

Shares of defense contractors were mostly lower Wednesday, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.

Lockheed Martin stock was off 0.7% in premarket trading. Northrop Grumman shares were down 0.2%. L3Harris Technologies' stock was down 0.5%, while RTX stock was off 0.5% as well.

Defense stocks tend to rise as fighting begins and give back some of the acute gains as things settle down. America's progress in Iran might signal a relatively quick end to the conflict.

Coming into Wednesday trading, those four stocks were up 2.3% for the week. The iShares US Aerospace & Defense ETF was up 0.5%.

The outlook for defense remains solid, however. Rising geopolitical tensions have led governments around the world to spend more on national defense, providing a tailwind for the sector. That tailwind isn't likely to abate when the fighting in Iran ends.

That belief is reflected in defense sector shares. Coming into Wednesday trading, the iShares ETF was up 60% over the past 12 months.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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March 04, 2026 09:12 ET (14:12 GMT)

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