EARNINGS PREVIEW: US Defense Sector Faces More Spending Woes

TAKING THE PULSE: The U.S. Defense Department's plan to slow its budget growth over the next three years before flattening it in 2015 and 2016 has stirred debate over which U.S. defense companies will be the relative winners and losers in the new spending environment. Meanwhile, China's cuts on exports of rare-earth metals has tightened supply of the materials that aerospace companies use in their guidance systems.