In case you've been out on the golf course, vacationing with the kids, or simply otherwise occupied, the situation in Iraq has become the primary focal point of the markets over the last few days. Thus, the question of the day is if geopolitics in Iraq will become the next "crisis" the stock market will have to deal with.
As you recall, there have been at least a couple false starts in the "crisis" category already in 2014. First, there was the emerging markets currency "crisis" in January as an overbought, over-believed, and potentially over exuberant market was treated to worries about money flowing out of some emerging market countries. But, after about 8 trading days, this "crisis" soon fizzled and the S&P 500 moved to new all-time highs soon thereafter.
Next came the "crisis" in Ukraine/Russia. Recall that after 25 years of being part of Ukraine, the people of Crimea decided that they wanted to return to Mother Russia. The worry here was that Putin would continue to annex new real estate and WWIII would soon follow. To a certain degree, this "crisis" is still with us today as this morning's headlines point to new tensions over payment for natural gas flowing to Ukraine. However, the bottom line is that the S&P is only 4 days and 0.77 percent removed from the most recent all-time high.
And now... it appears that it's all about Iraq.
Here's the Latest
The al-Qaeda-backed group ISIS has taken control of multiple towns in the north and is reportedly moving toward a showdown in Baghdad. Over the weekend, there have been reports that the Sunni insurgents have killed up to 1,700 Iraqi soldiers and the U.S. State department is starting to evacuate personnel from the embassy, which, is the largest U.S. diplomatic post in ...
