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Three Reasons the Stock Market Can Endure the War – WSJ

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Three Reasons the Stock Market Can Endure the War – WSJ

Pessimists have overused the image of Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff and not falling until after doing a double-take. If U.S. troops end up in another Middle East quagmire that drives oil to $200 a barrel, those who already sold their stocks will be in told-you-so mode as share prices follow the coyote to a hard landing.

So far, though, the fall is small given the scale of disruption. The S&P 500 is down 7.4% from its prewar high, only slightly more than falls over the same period in May 2019 or April 2018—neither at all memorable. Amid a global energy crisis that has already led to fuel rationing in some Asian countries, cautious Roadrunner fans see investor complacency.

One thing that always surprises me is how common the elements are in organic chemistry ⚗️

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Most organic chemicals are strings or carbon and hydrogen linked together, two of the most common chemicals on earth. Benzene, xylene and toluene are exclusively those compounds. They’re very good solvents often make up a portion of plastics and oil and gas turned into fuel because they burn well. At proper stoimetric ratios when burned all they create is water vapor and carbon dioxide.

Likewise even the famously poison cyanide is just carbon and hydrogen with a nitrogen atom tacked on. That’s why automakers have to limit cyanide emissions and why cigarette smoke contain cyanide – it’s not intentional to poison smokers. Wood smoke and candles also contain cyanide gas – especially with the carbon monoxide rich yellow flames from combustion.

We often think that toxins like benzene, toluene, xylene or even cyanide are man made but often they’re as commonly natural as man made. They’re not elemental toxins like lead or mercury – they’re actually made up from much more common building blocks from the earth.