The veracity of some of the once ballyhooed "Trump trades" has waned in recent weeks, but there is still one that appears very much intact, at least in ETFs: aerospace and defense .And if recent headlines out of Washington and elsewhere are any indication, this trade won't be cooling off any time soon.
The average year-to-date gain is close to 10 percent among the three largest, non-leveraged aerospace and defense ETFs, and all three currently reside near their record highs.
The trade is also supplemented by the recent launch of the Direxion Daily Aerospace & Defense Bull 3X Shares (NYSE:DEFN), which seeks to deliver triple the daily returns of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace & Defense Index.
DFEN debuted in early May as part of a broader suite of Trump trade-inspired leveraged ETFs from Direxion.
The index tracked by DFEN is up over 11 percent year-to-date, no doubt helped by rallies in stocks like Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) (up 26 percent), Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) (up 9 percent), and General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) (up 13 percent). Those three companies combine to make up about 25 percent of the index.
For context, the S&P 500 is up a little under 8 percent for the year.
For aggressive, sophisticated traders, DFEN makes for a way to increase near-term return potential with a group of stocks that are not always known for being exciting or sexy. Much of the index is made up of large-cap names not usually known for big intraday moves.
Where DFEN could prove particularly useful going forward is around earnings season when batches of big-name aerospace firms deliver results over a single day or just a few days. Additionally, the ETF could prove to be useful on a tactical basis around announcements of increased defense spending by Uncle Sam, contract wins by individual components, or if geopolitical tensions continue to rise around the globe.
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