History Only Goes So far

USA Today has a very interesting article that discusses the historical impact of past events - "Markets unlikely to feel long-term effect from storm"...

The article looks at past events and shows how stocks have historically bounced back from shocks- "History has shown that war can't keep the stock market down for long. Nor can deadly acts of terrorism. Add hurricanes to the list of unanticipated shocks that fail to have a lasting depressive effect on stock prices." Make sure you click on the link to read the arguments as to why this happens as they are worth noting.

However, I thought the writer made a very interesting point near the end of the piece - "Ultimately, how stocks fare comes back to the price of oil."... (Of course, I am not sure if I think that because I already share concerns about oil or if it is because I recently worked with the author on a story last month about Reebok.) My biases aside, I think it is important to note the historical patterns but understand that:

1. Anything can happen in the market
2. Expectations play a role