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Hey listeners, it's April 29th. I'm Spencer Jacob for the Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News and Earnings.

Our look at the broad themes that stood out in the latest earnings season.

We're four months into 2025, and it's a changed world.

The United States, which has for decades been at the center of international trade and capital flows,

and also the bulwark of security

for the world's democracies as pulling back sharply from both roles.

Tariffs hurt most manufacturing businesses, of course, but some defense companies operate

in a world where that affects them less.

As Western democracies up spending for their own defense, how would that balance play out?

First quarter earnings season for defense contractors give us a mixed picture on, how that balance play out. First quarter earnings season for

defense contractors give us a mixed picture on how this all will play out for those companies.

Sharon Turliffe covers the business for the journal and is here to help us understand.

Sharon, during their first quarter earnings calls, defense company executives gave different accounts of how tariffs could affect them. North of Brumman said that additional costs are

built into their contracts, and so they weren't very concerned. General Dynamics said that

they wouldn't answer questions about tariffs because of all the

uncertainty. And then G-Aerospace and Boeing were both more specific, but they also have larger

commercial footprints. Boeing, for example, said that about 80% of its commercial suppliers and

about 10% of those for defense are outside the U.S. and could be affected by tariffs. Can you just give us

some picture of how much you think they'll be hit and is anyone really totally insulated in this world?

...