Trump’s Iran Rhetoric Could Lift Energy and Defense Stocks on Geopolitical Risk Jitters

President Trump has posted a new announcement on Truth Social, the social media platform. He wrote:

“Iran is turning into the ‘North Korea of the Middle East’: Mark Levin:”

How Will Trump’s Statement Affect the Stock Market?

This latest post has the potential to affect the stock market. That’s because Donald Trump’s amplification of commentary framing Iran as the “North Korea of the Middle East” could heighten perceived geopolitical risk, often supporting higher oil prices and potentially benefiting energy-related stocks and ETFs such as Exxon Mobil (XOM), XLE, OIH, and VDE. Rising tensions and fears of conflict in the region can also bolster defense spending expectations, which tends to favor defense contractors like Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOC), RTX (RTX), and aerospace & defense ETFs such as PPA, XAR, and ITA. However, these moves may be short-lived or volatile, as markets will ultimately react more to concrete policy shifts or actual escalations than to political rhetoric alone.

Here are some of the stocks that might be affected:
Exxon Mobil Corp. ((XOM)),
Lockheed Martin ((LMT)),
Northrop Grumman Corp. ((NOC)),
Rtx Corporation ((RTX)),
Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ((XLE)),
VanEck Oil Services ETF ((OIH)),
Vanguard Energy ETF ((VDE)),
Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF ((PPA)),
SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF ((XAR)),
iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF ((ITA)).