Major defense stocks advanced Tuesday after Iran launched missiles at Israel, raising the odds of a wider conflict. Lockheed Martin was among the S&P 500's best performers, while RTX shares hit an all-time high.

Iran said early on Wednesday that its missile attack on Israel was finished barring further provocation, while Israel and the U.S. promised to retaliate against Tehran's escalation as fears of a wider war intensified.

WASHINGTON — Iran fired waves of missiles at Israel on Tuesday in what it called a revenge attack for Israel's killing of several Hezbollah leaders including its top leader Hassan Nasrallah. There were no immediate reports Israeli casualties from the barrage,

Ishiba is set to replace Fumio Kishida as Japan's prime minister on Tuesday. (Reporting by Yoshifumi Takemoto and Kentaro Sugiyama; Writing by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Asian markets have had a wild start to the week, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index tumbling nearly 5% while Chinese markets soared on news of fresh stimulus for the faltering economy