Defense, tourism, cargo: who gained and who lost from escalation in the Middle East

Shares of European and American defense companies rose in price, quotations of securities of oil companies rose following the futures on raw materials, securities of gold miners are in the plus due to the fact that the precious metal is trading near the historical maximum. These three sectors are benefiting from the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. What cannot be said about tourism and cargo transportation, the risks for which have increased.

Shares of major U.S. Defense Department contractors - Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris and RTX  - jumped 1.5-3.5% each after the start of trading on June 13. Quotes of European defense companies also rose. For example, the securities of the Swedish manufacturer of armaments Saab and German Rheinmetall appreciated by 3% and 2%, respectively. Shares of another German defense company Renk Group jumped 1.6%.

Contracts for Brent crude oil were up 7.5% to $74.5 a barrel on Friday: the day's rise could be the biggest since March 2022, wrote The Guardian. Oil was up 13% at the moment. U.S. WTI futures were rising also up about 7% to $72.8 at the time the news was published. Shares of Exxon Mobil one of the world's largest oil and gas companies were up 1.8%, while shares of  Chevron were gaining nearly 2% at one point, but then the growth rate was roughly halved.

The spot gold price rose by 1.8% to $3446.8 an ounce, approaching an all-time high of $3500. Shares of Newmont, the world's largest gold miner, jumped 2%. Canadian mining company Barrick Gold also added nearly 2%.

Quotes of the largest U.S. express carrier FedEx fell by almost 1%, its competitor - United Parcel Service (UPS) -  dropped by about the same amount. Shares of Maersk, the Danish logistics giant of container transportation, on the contrary, rose by almost 5%. Shares of Israeli container carrier ZIM rose by almost 1%, while China's COSCO rose by almost 7%.

The price of bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by capitalization, was down by more than 2% to $105,000. The second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, fell by 7%. Shares of the largest corporate holder of bitcoins Strategy  and quotes of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global fell 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively. The securities of trading platform Robinhood Markets and MARA Holdings, engaged in mining cryptocurrencies, were cheaper by 0.7% and 2.3% each.

Quotes of tourism-related companies have come under pressure: investors are concerned that rising risks could scare away travelers, and a jump in oil prices will hit profits. For example, securities of airlines, including IAG (owner of British Airways), EasyJet and Deutsche Lufthansa, fell by 3.5-5% each. Quotes of cruise Carnival,Norwegian Cruise and Royal Caribbean Cruises lost 5%, 3.7% and 2.6%, respectively. The share price of hotels and resorts also fell as traders began to factor in weakening travel demand following the Israeli strikes. Hilton Worldwide lost 2%, Marriott lost 2.5%.

The main U.S. stock indices - S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq Composite - fell 0.7-1.5% each. The pan-European index Stoxx 600 was down 0.8%, while Germany's DAX was down 1.3%.