CHARTING THE MARKET
Here's a sample Standard & Poor's 500 chart showing some news events in 2002--2003 and accompanying market shifts. Coincidence? You decide.
1. President George W. Bush addresses the United Nations General Assembly, urging them to take action against the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
2. The US Congress passes a joint resolution endorsing the use of force against Hussein's regime.
3. After the adoption of the UN Resolution 1441, which calls for the full and immediate disarming of Iraq, UN weapons inspectors arrive in Baghdad.
4. Hans Blix, chairman of the weapons inspectors group, Unmovic (United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission), reports to the United Nations Security Council that Iraq has provided no new information about its weapons programs pursuant to UN Resolution 1441.
5. UN weapons inspectors in Iraq discover 12 prohibited missile warheads designed to deliver chemical weapons that were not accounted for in Iraq's previous disclosures.
6. US Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the United Nations Security Council in an attempt to persuade the Council that Iraq is in "material breach" of UN Resolution 1441.
7. Refusing to accept "the logic of war," France leads Germany and Russia in promising to reject any UN resolution that has the use of military force as a consequence of Iraq's failure to disarm.
8. Great Britain and the United States withdraw a second resolution geared toward providing a deadline after which the United Nations would authorize the use of military force. President Bush gives Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq or face military attack. Two days later, US and British-led coalition forces launch a "decapitation strike" aimed at top Iraqi leadership officials in Baghdad. The invasion of Iraq begins shortly thereafter.
9. In the face of criticism about the war plans and continued antiwar protests worldwide, coalition forces engage Iraq's elite Republican Guard positions for the first time.
10. Coalition troops surround and enter Baghdad.
--Chart courtesy MetaStock (Equis International)
Excerpted from an article originally published in the June 2003 issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2003, Technical Analysis, Inc.
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