Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast [Aug 02, ’26 Business Report]

On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities, Sash Tusa of Agency Partners, and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss an up week on Wall Street and rising energy prices in the wake of wider conflict in the Middle East; higher Treasury yields in the wake of Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s communication stumble on explaining Fed’s decision to keep interest rates steady; President Trump call to suspend further Iran strikes pending a quick deal to end the war; despite an uncertain budget future, the Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a $58 billion contract for PAC 3 missiles that will also flow to companies like RTX and General Dynamics and HII $76.6 billion in contracts for nine Virginia-class attack subs and four Columbia-class ballistic missile subs; Washington and Tokyo worked together to prop up the yen, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asking the New York Federal Reserve Bank to sell euros to buy yen; Britain’s Burnham government will release its budget on Oct. 28 that will include a $32 billion buffer as British bond yields near their post-2008 high after Washington and Jerusalem started their war on Iran; EasyJet says it’s got a 5.7 billion pound or $7.7 billion offer from Apollo Global Management; and Airbus, AerCap, Boeing, Bombardier, General Dynamics, Hexcel, HII, Leonardo and Leonardo DRS, Melrose, Safran, and Textron report earnings.