Economic woes forced even the aerospace and defense industry down in 2008. Though defenseless for most of the year, the industry powered through the final month to overtake the broad, S&P market for yet another year. A Marketwire press release explains that the related ETF, Powershares Aerospace & Defense ETF (PPA: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), tracks the SPADE Defense Index, which has now outperformed the S&P index for the ninth consecutive year.

Aerospace and defense suffered its worst year since 1997. PPA dropped approximately 38% during 2008 due, in part, to a strike at Boeing, market pressure, and presidential transition, according to Marketwire. Scott Sacknoff, President of SPADE Indexes, is quoted in the press release, saying, “Investors should not forget that companies involved with defense, homeland security, aerospace, and government space activities generate nearly 5% of U.S. GDP. With the government as a primary customer, they are less likely to be directly affected long-term by economic factors associated with the banking crisis, recession, and inflation. Additionally, the sector remains a major source of manufacturing jobs in the United States and should benefit from the 2009 infrastructure initiatives.”

The chart below illustrates how PPA overtook SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) in the final month of the year to keep the streak intact.