Don't buy into Wall street hype that rallies and declines are the result of news events. Sure, news does impact the market, but not to the extent you'd believe if you read the headlines: Market Off on War Fears Market Up on Hopes War Will Start Soon Market Down on Fears War Will Start Soon You see that nonsense every day, it's just their pathetic attempt to put a reason behind the market's movements (a reason other than the movement of money from investors to Wall Street). One day an event causes a rise, the next day a fall -- it makes no sense at all. External events do have an impact on the market, and it's very short term. If you look at charts before Sept 11, the market was already collapsing, and the attack probably made it a more orderly decline than might have occurred otherwise.