Shares of defense giants Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE:LMT) and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (NYSE:HII) are higher this afternoon, following this weekend'sU.S. attack on Venezuela and capture of leader Nicolás Maduro. Wall Street is also now betting that geopolitical conflicts will not escalate in response to the action, leaving markets unscathed.
LMT is up 2.1% to trade at $507.57 at last check, and sports a 17.7% nine-month lead. The equity earlier surged to its highest levelsince October on a bounce off the $480 level, which recently emerged as a support area after capping rallies in both November and December.
HII was last seen up 4% to trade at $363.86, and earlier secured a fresh record high of $365.92. The stock just notched an impressive 80% gain for 2025, marking its best annual performance since 2013, with long-term support from the 20-day moving average. In the last nine months, the security has added more than 98%.
Much like their energy sector counterparts, LMT and HII are both seeing unusual options activity today. The former is seeing double the call volume typically seen at this point, while the latter is seeing triple. For LMT the most active contract is the weekly 1/9 500-strike put is the most popular, and for the latter it's the June 460 call, with positions being opened at both.
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