Most of Wall Street drifts as defense companies rally
[January 09, 2026] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — Modest moves for Wall Street overall masked some big
swings underneath the surface on Thursday, including for makers of
weapons and other military equipment after President Donald Trump said
he wants to increase spending on them sharply.
The S&P 500 barely budged and inched up by less than 0.1%, coming off
its first loss in four days. It remains near its all-time high set
earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 270 points, or
0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.4%.
The majority of stocks climbed as yields ticked higher in the bond
market following mixed reports on the U.S. economy.
The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits rose last
week, a potential indicator of increasing layoffs, but by no more than
economists expected. Other reports said U.S. workers improved their
productivity by more in the summer than economists expected, while the
U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly shrank in October.
On Wall Street, defense-industry companies rallied after Trump said he
wants to increase U.S. military spending to $1.5 trillion in 2027 from
$901 billion in order to build the “Dream Military.”
L3Harris Technologies jumped 5.2%, Lockheed Martin climbed 4.3% and
Northrop Grumman added 2.4%. They bounced back from losses the prior
day, when Trump complained defense contractors were making military
equipment too slowly.
RTX came under particular criticism by Trump, and its stock lagged
behind rivals. It inched up 0.8% after Trump said that it was the
“slowest in increasing their volume.”
Trump signed an executive order Wednesday calling on the Pentagon to
ensure future contracts with contractors contain a provision prohibiting
their ability to buy back their own stock during a period of
underperformance on U.S. government contracts.
Another winner on Wall Street was Constellation Brands, which climbed
5.3% after the beer and wine company reported a better profit for the
latest quarter than analysts expected.
They helped work against drops for several technology stocks that held
back the overall market. Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500
after dropping 2.2% and giving back some of its big gain of nearly 40%
last year.
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Specialist James Denaro works at his post on the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
 All told, the S&P 500 added 0.53 to
6,921.46 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 270.03 to
49,266.11, and the Nasdaq composite fell 104.26 to 23,480.02.
Elsewhere, oil prices jumped to continue their zigzags since Trump
ousted the leader of Venezuela last weekend.
A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude climbed 3.2% to $57.76. Brent
crude, the international standard, rose 3.4% to settle at $61.99 per
barrel.
Venezuela is potentially sitting on more oil than any other country
in the world, and any increase in production could push further
downward on prices, which have already fallen on expectations for
plentiful supplies. But billions of dollars of investment are likely
necessary to get Venezuela’s aging infrastructure in good-enough
shape to ramp up production sharply.
It’s not just Venezuela where the U.S. military could see action, as
Trump talks about “troubled and dangerous times.” The president in
recent days has also called for taking over the Danish territory of
Greenland for national security reasons and has suggested he’s open
to carrying out military operations in Colombia.
In stock markets abroad, indexes moved modestly in Europe following
a weak finish in Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.6% for one of the world’s bigger moves,
while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.2%.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.18%
from 4.15% late Wednesday.
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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed
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