War Stocks Losing Battle
S&P 500 Defeating War Index

Washington, DC -- March 14, 2003 -- War may not be good - even for the companies that should expect to profit from it.  According to Keck's Index, the stocks of 14 publicly traded companies dealing in war-related products are down 24% since September 10, 2002. 

The Index includes top-ten defense contractors, like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, as well as Acambis and Baxter International, providers of smallpox vaccines.  It even lists a maker of violent video games, and the parent company of Henkel Consumer Adhesives, number-one purveyor of duct tape in the U.S.

Index creator Gayle Keck notes that several news sources have reported Henkel founder, Jack Kahl, gave more than $100,000 to Republicans in the 2000 elections.  "But despite all the Homeland Security publicity, their stock is still down," she adds. 

In the year following the 9/11 attacks on the US, war-related stocks were up 8%, versus a 16.7% downturn for the S&P 500.  Top defense contractor Lockheed Martin gained a whopping 72%. But that trend has now reversed, with the War Index stocks down 23% compared to S&P 500 losses of only 8.9% (although that index is calculated slightly differently).

"They are interesting statistics to track," Keck says.  "Will these companies win the war but lose the market battle?"