While most investors may arguably be focused on productive ventures such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, it's an objective reality that the robust but controversial defense sector has been an outperformer. Since the beginning of the year, the benchmark Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace & Defense Index has gained nearly 35%. In contrast, the S&P 500 is up a hair over 6% during the same frame.
Still, the upward trajectory of defense-focused funds doesn't necessarily mean that the surge was linear. Like any other market segment, the publicly traded arm of the military-industrial complex experiences ebbs and flows. In the business week ending Aug. 1, the aforementioned aerospace and defense index declined by 1.24%. Despite the recent splashing of red ink, investors may use this time to consider conducting more research.
