New York, January 19, 2026, 13:06 EST — Market closed
- U.S. markets are shut for Martin Luther King Jr. Day; trading resumes Tuesday
- AST SpaceMobile jumped on news it won a prime contract position under an MDA framework
- Contractors’ earnings later this month will test whether the sector’s rally can stick
Space and defense stocks were back in focus after AST SpaceMobile’s sharp rise on Friday, with U.S. markets closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and investors looking to Tuesday’s reopen for follow-through.
That move mattered because it put fresh attention on a corner of the market where commercial space names are pitching “dual-use” capability — technology that can serve civilian and military customers — at a time when Washington is leaning harder on missile defense and supply-chain capacity.
It also lands ahead of a heavy stretch of earnings and outlooks from large defense primes later this month, when management teams will be pressed on demand signals, timing of deliveries and margins.
AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) ended Friday up 14.3% at $115.77.
The company said it had been awarded a prime contract position on the Missile Defense Agency’s Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense program, known as SHIELD, under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity framework — a contract vehicle that sets terms up front but leaves specific orders to be competed and issued later.
“Being selected as a prime contract awardee … is a major validation,” Chief Commercial Officer Chris Ivory said in the statement, adding the selection positions the firm to compete for future task orders.
Rocket Lab (RKLB) rose 6.1% on Friday after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to “overweight” from “equalweight” and raised its price target to $105 from $67, according to a report on the note. https://www.investing.com/news/analyst-ratings/morgan-stanley-upgrades-rocket-lab-stock-to-overweight-on-strategic-growth-93CH-4451277
The broader aerospace-and-defense complex also finished higher in the last session, with the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA) up 1.1% at $243.77. Northrop Grumman (NOC) gained 1.9% to $666.90, Lockheed Martin (LMT) rose 0.8% to $582.43, and RTX (RTX) added 1.1% to $201.92.
Investors will be watching whether those gains hold when normal liquidity returns on Tuesday, especially in the high-beta space names that have drawn fast money alongside longer-term buyers.
A second test comes next week. RTX is due to report fourth-quarter results on January 27, before the U.S. market opens, the company said.
Northrop Grumman is also scheduled to report on January 27, before the market opens, it said.
Lockheed Martin and L3Harris are set for January 29 releases, both companies have said, keeping the focus on 2026 guidance and the pace of contract conversion into revenue.
But the setup carries risks. The SHIELD selection does not guarantee task orders, and a risk-off tape — or a cautious tone from contractors on costs, schedules or government funding — could hit the same stocks that have been leading.
For now, traders are keying on Tuesday’s cash open and, beyond that, the late-month earnings run as the next catalysts for space and defense shares.
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