Days of Easy Speculation Look Numbered in War-Shaken Stocks

First, it was inflation. Then came shaky tech earnings. Now, Russia. Slowly, then all of a sudden, forces are gathering that threaten to wring out the excesses that defined the post-pandemic era in markets.

Within the span of a month, sentiment toward risky assets -- which bordered on euphoric -- has shifted dramatically. Speculative equities that went straight up for years have fallen back to earth, brought down by the prospect of higher interest rates. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked fears of a global energy crisis and raised the specter of stagflation. It all adds up to a remarkable coda to a two-year run that saw financial assets of all kinds soar as the Federal Reserve’s pandemic response flooded the system with money.