BUZZ-U.S. defense stocks rise in 2024 on higher global military spending

** Strong weapons demand amid the ongoing Middle East crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war boosted arms manufacturers' stock value this year

** Stocks of defense majors catch up with the S&P 500 .SPX after lagging the market benchmark in 2023, with RTX RTX.N ouperforming YTD (up 37.6%)

** Lockheed Martin LMT.N (up 6.7% YTD), General Dynamics GD.N (up 1.7% YTD) and Northrop Grumman NOC.N (up 0.03% YTD) are also set to end the year higher

** While peer L3Harris Technologies LHX.N (down 0.5% YTD) will end the year slightly lower

** Arms manufacturers including Lockheed Martin , RTX, L3Harris and Northrop Grumman raised their annual earnings forecasts, benefiting from increased military spending

** YTD, S&P 500 Aerospace & Defense sub-index .SPLRCAERO was up 13.3%, compared to 24.02% gain in S&P 500 Index

(Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta)

((Aatreyee.Dasgupta@thomsonreuters.com))