By Buttonwood, The Economist

28 Apr 2014 – After wobbling a bit on Friday

[25 Apr 2014], equity markets are rallying again today, despite the threat of renewed western sanctions against Russia and the potential for the skirmishes in eastern Ukraine to turn into a full-scale war. The prospect of a takeover boom seems to outweigh geopolitical risk.

To be fair, equity markets have struggled overall this year and perhaps they would have made more progress if Ukraine had not erupted (although the news on profits should have been enough to give investors pause). But one suspects that investors have become relaxed about the outlook of regional conflicts, ever since the first Gulf War in 1991 did not result in the Middle East being set ablaze as many predicted. Markets have tended to fall in advance of hostilities and then to surge once the first guns were fired; in a financial sense, war is peace, to continue the Orwellian theme of the last two posts.

Read the full article and past posts here.

The Buttonwood columnist considers the ever-changing financial markets. Brokerage was once conducted under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. Go to Original – economist.com