And Now For the News

Today has to be the sort of day that makes your average Wall Street quant want to jump out of a 30 story window. Separatists/Russians/Satan shoot down a 777, and Mr. Market goes all bananas. Not just the nowhere near ripe greenish kind of nanner, but the fully brown squishy ones that melt in your hand. Not in your mouth.

To make matters worser, at 12:27pm, Briefing.com had this tidbit:

No sooner did we post a Floor Talk comment at 11:14 a.m. ET noting the otherwise resilient nature of the equity market in the face of worrisome-sounding headlines about new sanctions being levied against Russia that selling interest picked up in noticeable fashion.

Here's a bit from 11:14 am:

The overnight buzz revolved around the new sanctions the US Treasury Department imposed on entities in Russia's financial, energy, and defense sectors. That was a step up from prior sanctions that targeted individuals and ratcheted up the diplomatic standoff between the US and Russia over Ukraine.

Data is driven by policy. And the errant grey swan. Capitalists are Patriots only when they figure they can make more money that way. "Sanctions on Vlad!!! But, but, but... he's our good buddy with all that petro!! We can do business with him, just like Dubya said he could! Look deep into his soul; he's our kind of guy. Leave our good buddy alone!!" Daddy Warbucks, indeed.