The FTSE 100 and other global indices may be falling today, but the overall impact of Putin’s brutal invasion has been relatively mild. That’s not a one-off, either, it has happened throughout history.
As far as hard-nosed investors and traders are concerned, war is just another risk. That may seem shocking, given the horrendous human tragedy occurring in Ukraine, and the menace we all face as Putin makes veiled nuclear threats.
It’s the reality, though.
In 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed the Crimea, the US S&P 500 Index fell 6 percent, yet quickly bounced back.
It was the same story when the US invaded Iraq in 1991, and again in 2003. On both occasions, global stock markets plunged more than 10 percent, but recovered all of their early losses within months.
On the first day of trading after the September 11 terror attacks on the Twin Towers, the Dow Jones Average crashed more than 14 percent. Yet Wall Street had fought back by November.
It was the same story in World War 2. The Dow Jones crashed when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941, but by 1945 it was…
