WAR AND WALL STREET

Say what you will about war, butas far as the stock market is concerned,the threat of war is worsethan war itself. When the Gulf Warbegan in 1991, stocks dropped asfast as the bombs over Baghdad, butturned around once it was apparentthat the war was going according toplan. Similarly, oil prices, which hadrisen when Iraq invaded Kuwaitand spiked again when the warstarted, plunged when it becameobvious that Desert Storm coalitionforces had the upper hand. WallStreet has reacted to previous warsin the same way, market historianssay. Good news from the war-frontrelieves uncertainty, the market'smajor enemy, and removes the mainreason for the market's malaise inthe months before and shortly afterthe actual shooting war begins.