US defense contractors are on shaky ground just a month into the new administration — taking a backseat to European peers — as mounting concerns over a deluge of policies including a tightened military spending budget send shock waves across the government-sensitive group.

Shares in Asia and Europe gained on Tuesday, lifted by defense and military stocks as U.S. and Russian officials meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Japan’s Nikkei 225, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong,

NATO is dead,” wrote Vertical Research Partners analyst in a Tuesday report summarizing recent news for his clients.