Closing Bell: Defense Shares Rally, Alphabet Rises, Rio Tinto Slides

On this episode of Stock Movers:

Listen for comprehensive cross-platform coverage of the US market close as heard on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and YouTube with Romaine Bostick, Katie Greifeld, Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec.

- Shares of defense companies like Lockheed Martin (LMT), General Dynamics (GD) and Northrop (NOC) all rose in trading today on news from the White House that President Donald Trump said he wants to increase the country’s military budget by about 50% to $1.5 trillion in 2027. A Goldman Sachs basket of European defense stocks rose as much as 3.8% on Thursday, extending its gain for the week to about 13%. In the US, Northrop Grumman Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. surged more than 6% in premarket trading, rebounding from a drop the previous day when Trump called for curbs on executive pay and shareholder returns in the sector. Defense stocks also rose in Asia.

- Alphabet (GOOG) has overtaken Apple to become the second-most valuable company by market capitalization, a reflection of how the Google parent has emerged as one of the most significant winners of artificial intelligence. Shares of Alphabet rose 2.4% on Wednesday, closing with a valuation of $3.89 trillion. That allowed it to surpass Apple, which closed with a market cap of $3.85 trillion on Wednesday, following a six-day slump that erased nearly 5% — and almost $200 billion — off its value. The divergence widened further Thursday, with Apple opening 1.2% lower and Alphabet gaining 1.1%.

- Rio Tinto (RIO) saw its shares fall on word that Glencore said it’s in talks with the firm on a deal that would create the world’s biggest mining company, a little over a year after earlier talks between the two companies collapsed. Glencore said Thursday that it was in preliminary talks with Rio, with options including an all-share transaction that would see Rio buy Glencore. Glencore said there’s no certainty of a deal, adding that a further announcement will be made as appropriate. Rio Tinto declined to comment.

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