XAR Stock Recent News

XAR: A Good Balanced Approach To An Industry That Won't Stop

A smart beta exchange traded fund, the SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR) debuted on 09/28/2011, and offers broad exposure to the Industrials ETFs category of the market.

Trae Stephens, Founders Fund partner, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss the shift of governments embracing defense tech start-ups, Google employees' reluctance to work in the defense sector, and more.

Launched on 09/28/2011, the SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Industrials - Aerospace & Defense segment of the equity market.

Investing in companies that produce weapons and related systems may seem like a good idea, but the mantra of increasing militarization alone cannot justify further upside for XAR. European countries are consolidating their defense industry and increasing military spending, which may not benefit the U.S. defense industry in the same way as before. European defense stocks are gaining traction as the industry consolidates, and ETFs providing for a more diversified geographical mix have emerged, competing with XAR's equal-weighted approach to the U.S. defense sector.

Aerospace & Defense ETFs like ITA, PPA and XAR have hit 52-week highs lately.

Making its debut on 09/28/2011, smart beta exchange traded fund SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR) provides investors broad exposure to the Industrials ETFs category of the market.

Tensions around the world are rising with notable areas in Eastern Europe and the Middle East becoming war zones. And there are concerns that those war zones may broaden if other countries become involved.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday continued to criticize an aid package for Ukraine and other countries, even as analysts expect that a divided Washington eventually will deliver on the matter.

While defense stocks joined in on Tuesday's broad market sell-off sparked by a hotter-than-expected reading on inflation, that's after several sessions of gains that came as the U.S. Senate made progress on approving a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies.