This Is What Happens To The Stock Market When Terrible Things Happen In The World
Global markets are in a tizzy today over growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Some outlets are reporting that Russian forces in Crimea have told Ukrainians to surrender midnight eastern time on Tuesday or face a military assault.
We'll find out soon enough how ultimate that ultimatum really is, but here's what investors can expect if the geopolitical risk becomes a major war.
This table from Sam Stovall of S&P Capital IQ (via the WSJ's Steven Russolillo) shows how U.S. stocks have reacted since WWII to major historical events - wars, kerfuffles, assassination attempts, and the like.
Stocks tend to sell of but rebound fairly quickly after global conflicts. It only took stocks 30 days to recover after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, for example.
Deeper systemic problems in the financial system - Lehman in 2008 or the 1987 crash - took longer.
