European defence stocks up as pressure to boost military spending grows
17/02/2025 08:34
(Updates share moves, adds STOXX Aerospace and Defence index in
1st bullet)
** Shares of European aerospace and defence firms .SXPARO rise
2.75% as pressure grows for Europe to take responsibility of its
own security
** Shares in Germany's Rheinmetall RHMG.DE , Hensoldt
HAGG.DE and Renk R3NK.DE rise between 8% and 10%
** Sweden's Saab SAABb.ST rises 7%, Italy's Leonardo LDOF.MI
up almost 5%; Kongsberg Gruppen KOG.OL , Thales TCFP.PA ,
Dassault Aviation AM.PA and Indra Sistemas IDR.MC rise
between 2.8% and 4%
** French President Emmanuel Macron will host an emergency
summit on Ukraine after U.S. officials suggested Europe would
have no role in any talks aimed at ending the conflict
** Stifel says in a note that new NATO targets and revised
EU deficit rules are expected to trigger a wave of new orders
** "We think the NATO will set a new spending target of
2.5-3% of GDP in June, which would trigger incremental defense
spending of US$85-176bn p.a. in Europe alone," Stifel adds
** German chancellor Olaf Scholz has proposed to activate an
escape clause to raise military expenditure from 2% to above 3%
of GDP, Stifel says
** On Saturday, Scholz also predicted the new German government
would create an exemption for spending on defence and security
when dealing with the nation's constitutional limit on public
debt
(Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova)
((Anastasiia.Kozlova@thomsonreuters.com))