Yahoo Finance Las Vegas shooting: Gun shares rise in aftermath of tragedy
Shares in firearms companies have soared in the wake of one of the deadliest shootings in America, which saw at least 59 people killed in Las Vegas.
Gun shares climbed in the aftermath of the event as investors anticipated a rush to buy weapons as people fear a tightening of gun control laws, according to a BBC News report.
MORE: Las Vegas shooting: Gunman who slaughtered 59 had huge arsenal of weapons
Shares in manufacturer Sturm Ruger were up almost 3.5% when markets closed in the US on Tuesday, while American Outdoor Brands which owns Smith & Wesson, rose 3.2 percent. Ammunition manufacturer, Vista Outdoors rose more than 2%.
Speaking to the BBC, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics said that conventional wisdom demonstrated that shares in “gun manufacturers rise after shootings like the one in Las Vegas as investors believe there will be a rush to purchase guns before new gun control regulations are put into place”.
LAS VEGAS SHOOTING LEAVES 20 DEAD – LATEST NEWS FROM YAHOO UK
Las Vegas shooting: More than 50 dead and 500 injured in casino resort massacre
Shocking video shows moment Las Vegas gunman opened fire on crowd of 40,000
‘They unloaded clip after clip’: Terrified eyewitnesses describe Vegas shooting
Instagram star Dan Bilzerian films shocking video running from Vegas shooting
Piers Morgan forced to abandon Mariah Carey GMB interview as Vegas shooting breaks
Stephen Craig Paddock killed 59 people and injured 527 others who were attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival, before killing himself in the room from which he shot his victims, on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.
According to CNBC, gun stocks have tended to rise after similar shootings.
In the month after mass U.S. shootings, on average Sturm Ruger shares rise by almost 2.9% and American Outdoor Brands rises almost 5.4%, according to analysis using Kensho, a quantitative analytics tool used by hedge funds. The study looked at 32 instances since the Columbine High School shooting in April 1999 in Colorado.
Paul Christopher, head global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, told the BBC that gun sales surged in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, after the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, and following the terrorist attack in San Bernardino CA terrorist attack of Dec. 2015.
The shooting in Las Vegas has once again fuelled the debate on gun laws in the US, with many calling for tighter controls. However, the White House batted off questions from reporters on Monday, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders telling journalists: “there will certainly be a time for that policy discussion to take place, but that’s not the place that we’re in at this moment.”
