Humanitarian aid arrived in Gaza for the first time Saturday since the attacks in Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, capping another week of developments for investors.
Here is where defense stocks, commodities, and gold stood at the close of business on Friday.
One of the biggest impacts on the stock market was a $75.7 billion funding request that President Joe Biden made to Congress for military aid to Israel and Ukraine.
On Friday, the day that the president formally sent his proposal to Capitol Hill, defense stocks climbed, then fell to close lower.
Lockheed Martin
(LMT),
Northrop Grumman
(NOC),
General Dynamics
(GD), and
L3Harris Technologies
(LHX) were down 1.1%, 0.9%, 1.3%, and 1% respectively.
Boeing
(BA) fell 1.5%, and
RTX
(RTX) slid 1.8%.
Two commodities, oil and gold, inched higher.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose 0.3% to $88.30 a barrel after starting the week around $87, while Brent Crude, the international standard, ticked 0.4% higher to $92.51 after beginning the week around $90, according to
FactSet.
Oil has been volatile lately. Investor worry that a larger war could spark upheaval in the commodity because nearby countries Iran and Saudi Arabia are major global producers. Oil doesn’t trade on Saturday; the market reopens at 6 p.m. EST on Sunday.
Gold edged 0.1% lower to $1,993 after stepping into the week around $1,933. The precious metal has generally performed well since violence started, providing what investors consider a safe asset.
Write to Emily Dattilo at emily.dattilo@dowjones.com
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