NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - U.S. defense shares jumped onWednesday, with companies including Northrop Grumman hitting lifetime highs, as the presidential victory byRepublican Donald Trump lifted expectations of increasedmilitary spending here and overseas.
Shares of Northrop, Raytheon and General Dynamics hit intraday lifetime highs after gapping higher at theopening.
Shares of Raytheon were last up 7.5 percent at $146.70,while General Dynamics was up 5.8 percent at $162.6,2 andNorthrop was up 5.7 percent at $242.95.
Shares of Lockheed Martin rose 6.5 percent to$254.75 and hit their highest intraday level since aboutmid-August. Other defense names rose more modestly: Boeing was up 2 percent at $145.05.
Defense shares had already been higher this year,underpinned in part by signs of increased global conflict.
While Trump's rival in the race for the White House,Democrat Hillary Clinton, also had advocated tough defense andforeign policies, Trump has been a big supporter of increaseddefense spending, saying he would expand the Army and add to thenumber of ships.
"It's basically he believes in stronger preparation. It'sstrength equals preparedness," said Quincy Krosby, marketstrategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
Trump has called on NATO alliance partners to do more topay for their own security.
Elsewhere, shares of the U.K.'s BAE Systems gained6.8 percent. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Leslie Adler)