“Only human beings can look directly at something, have all the information they need to make an accurate prediction, perhaps even momentarily make the accurate prediction, and then say that it isn't so.”
― Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
If you’re invested in the stock market, you’re feeling some pain right now. The stock market lost 11% of its value this week. The S&P 500 index recorded its fastest double-digit decline ever.
Fear is what’s driving the market sell-off. Bloomberg.com reports Global Stock Losses Hit $6 Trillion As Virus Fear Spreads.
People are afraid, but why is it that the dangers only became obvious on Monday? Why is it that people ignored huge, unprecedented steps taken by governments over the last several weeks?
Jan 20 China announces coronavius is spread human to human
Jan 23, China locked down 30million+ people in the largest quarantine in human history.
Jan 30, The corrupt and inept Secretary-General of the WHO declared the coronavirus a Global Health Emergency of International Concern.
Jan 31, US announced it would bar entry to foreign nationals who’d recently been to China and would quarantine returning Americans for the first time in my lifetime.
With China factories closed for a month and global supply chains deeply disrupted, you’d think people might expect a stock market decline. But no. People seemed taken off guard as “all of a sudden” the market woke up to the new realities.
All the signs were there.
If you were blindsided by this, it’s a good time to ask yourself what else you might be missing.