What a third world war would mean for investors
Global conflicts have a habit of sneaking up on money-managers
Europe had been moving towards the slaughterhouse for years, and by 1914 a conflict was all but inevitable—that, at least, is the argument often made in hindsight. Yet at the time, as Niall Ferguson, a historian, noted in a paper published in 2008, it did not feel that way to investors. For them, the first world war came as a shock. Until the week before it erupted, prices in the bond, currency and money markets barely budged. Then all hell broke loose. “The City has seen in a flash the meaning of war,” wrote this newspaper on August 1st 1914.
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Boom times”
Finance & economics November 4th 2023
- Donald Trump’s second term would be a protectionist nightmare
- American banks now offer customers a better deal
- What a third world war would mean for investors
- Investors are paying close attention to the world’s safest assets
- China’s economy is a mess. Why aren’t firms going under?
- How Japan poses a threat to the global financial system
- The Middle East’s economy is caught in the crossfire
From the November 4th 2023 edition
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