Monday's top market stories spanned defense, semiconductors and monetary policy: RTX's Raytheon division won a $22.9 billion missile contract, memory chipmakers Micron and Sandisk rallied on AI demand optimism, Nvidia gained after new details of Anthropic's growth forecast emerged, L3Harris replaced its CEO following a conduct review, and the odds of a September Federal Reserve rate hike fell sharply.

RTX Lands $22.9 Billion Missile Deal

RTX's Raytheon division has secured a $22.9 billion, seven-year contract from the U.S. military to ramp up production of Tomahawk cruise missiles. Under the agreement, Raytheon is expected to increase annual output from around 60 missiles to more than 1,000 per year. The contract forms part of a wider Pentagon push to rebuild weapons stockpiles and expand U.S. missile production capacity.

Tomahawks, long-range cruise missiles launched from ships and submarines, have been a staple of U.S. strike operations since the 1991 Gulf War, and inventories have drawn renewed attention after combat use in recent years, including U.S. strikes on Houthi targets in the Red Sea region. The seven-year term gives Raytheon multiyear production visibility at a time when U.S. defense budgets continue to climb.

Micron and Sandisk Rally on AI Demand

Memory chip stocks moved sharply higher on Monday, with Micron gaining around 6% and Sandisk jumping roughly 11%. Western Digital and Seagate also traded higher as confidence in AI-driven memory demand grew. Sandisk has been trading as a separate company only since its spin-off from Western Digital in February 2025, making its shares a fresh read on NAND memory sentiment. AI data centers require large amounts of high-performance memory to run alongside GPUs. Micron is one of the world's three dominant DRAM makers, alongside Samsung and SK Hynix, and supplies the high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators, which places it among the more direct beneficiaries of the AI hardware buildout. Investors are also growing more confident that the memory sector could see a longer period of strong pricing rather than the usual boom-and-bust cycle, a notable shift for a business that has historically been among the most cyclical corners of the chip industry.

Anthropic Forecast Lifts Nvidia

Nvidia and other AI stocks received a boost after new details about Anthropic's growth expectations emerged, with the figures surfacing as Anthropic's IPO filing moves forward. The AI company is reportedly forecasting between $190 billion and $200 billion in revenue by 2028, compared with an annualized run rate of roughly $47 billion disclosed earlier this year. Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, counts Amazon and Google among its major investors, while Nvidia holds the dominant share of the market for the AI accelerators that power systems like Claude. According to the report, if those numbers prove close to accurate, demand for GPUs, servers and data center capacity could remain very strong for years ahead, and Nvidia would stand out as one of the clearest potential beneficiaries if Anthropic and companies like it continue to scale at that pace.

L3Harris CEO Exits After Conduct Review

L3Harris fell Monday after the defense contractor announced the immediate departure of Chairman and CEO Christopher Kubasik, who had led the company since late 2022. L3Harris, formed through the 2019 merger of L3 Technologies and Harris Corporation, ranks among the largest U.S. defense contractors. The company said an internal investigation found conduct that was not consistent with its code of conduct, and added that the issue did not affect financial reporting, operations or customer relationships. Sam Mehta, previously head of the company's Space and Mission Systems segment, has been named the new CEO. L3Harris reaffirmed its 2026 financial outlook despite the leadership change, which helped limit some of the market reaction.

Fed Rate-Hike Odds Fall Sharply

Markets are now pricing in roughly a 31% chance of a Federal Reserve rate hike in September, down from about 55% the prior week. The decline follows softer inflation data, weaker retail sales and signs that the labor market is slowing. A Reuters poll conducted from August 12 to 17 found that most economists expect the Fed to hold its benchmark rate at 3.50% to 3.75% through the end of 2026. The fed funds rate anchors short-term borrowing costs across the economy, and expectations about its path feed directly into how investors discount future corporate earnings. The report noted that lower rate expectations tend to support valuations for technology and growth stocks, whose value rests most heavily on profits generated years from now, adding another tailwind alongside ongoing AI enthusiasm.

Source: CoinCentral