- Trump said the meeting included CEOs of top U.S. defense companies, including Boeing, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, among others.
- As per Trump, expansion had begun three months before the meeting, and many of the manufacturing facilities for the weapons were already under way.
- Meanwhile, Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, warned that the longer the U.S.-Israel-Iran war stretched out, the greater the risk would be to the global economy.
Shares of major defense companies edged higher on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said that the largest companies have agreed to quadruple production of “exquisite class” weaponry amid the ongoing war against Iran.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that he had just concluded a meeting with the chief executive officers of BAE Systems (BAESY), Boeing Co. (BA), Honeywell International Inc. (HON), L3Harris Technologies Inc. (LHX), Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), and Raytheon Holding (RAY) to discuss weapons production and schedules.
Shares of HON were up 0.15% in Friday’s after-market hours, while shares of LHX and LMT climbed 0.9% and 0.45% higher. NOC stock was up 0.28% in extended trading hours at the time of writing.
“We just concluded a very good meeting with the largest U.S. Defense Manufacturing Companies where we discussed Production and Production Schedules. They have agreed to quadruple Production of the “Exquisite Class” Weaponry in that we want to reach, as rapidly as possible, the highest levels of quantity,” Trump said.
Additional Details
As per Trump, expansion had begun three months before the meeting, and many of the manufacturing facilities for the weapons were already under way.
“We have a virtually unlimited supply of Medium and Upper Medium Grade Munitions, which we are using, as an example, in Iran, and recently used in Venezuela,” he said. “Regardless, however, we have also increased Orders at these levels,” he added.
Trump also said that another meeting with the defense companies was scheduled in the next two months.
Expert Commentary
Meanwhile, Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, warned in a post on X on Friday that the longer the U.S.-Israel-Iran war stretched out, the greater the risk would be to the global economy, especially in terms of production systems and supply-chain issues.
“Some production systems and certain cross-border supply chains do not handle ‘sudden stops’ well. IF they continue to shut down, and it is an if, their eventual restart would likely be neither quick nor smooth,” he said.
In an earlier post from the day, El-Erian had warned that immediate pressures from the war would be on surging energy prices, and rising mortgage rates, eventually leading to broader price increases from supply-side disruptions and eventual "cost-push" inflation.
The war with Iran has now entered its seventh day, leading to higher oil prices and volatility in stock markets. U.S. equities ended the day lower on Friday, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, closing down by 1.31%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) was down 0.96% at close.
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