Thursday, August 21, 2008

Escalating Russian tensions yet to hit market

From MarketWatch:

Commentary: Fannie, Freddie, meet Vladimir
One of oddest things about financial markets is how they can overreact to a rainstorm in the Gulf or the earnings forecast of a tech company yet completely overlook something like the beginnings of a global political crisis.

The Russian siege of Georgia provoked yawns on Wall Street in its first few days last week, overshadowed by the Olympics in China and a brief summer rally in financial stocks. Since South Ossetia isn't sitting directly on a pool of oil, even crude futures failed to react, a reflection of the seriousness in the commodities sell-off of the past few weeks....MORE