We have received several calls regarding concerns about international investments because of the Ukraine/Russia war.
It’s been a surreal two years; with Russia invading Ukraine just as it looked like we might be putting the COVID-19 virus behind us. The primary non-human casualties will be spiking energy and food prices. Sanctions placed on Russian banking and payment systems have led to significant volatility in currency markets as well.
Since Russia entered Ukraine (Feb 24) – the US stock market (S&P 500) is down only 0.6%. The developed foreign stock index (EFA) is down 9.4% and the emerging stock market index (EEM) is down 9.5%. The value of the stock market is forward looking. It is anticipating what is expected to happen.
Note that your global stock portfolio has very little exposure in Ukraine and Russia. It will mostly be impacted energy and food prices.
We do not recommend trying to time the market and sell out of certain funds and guess when they will start moving back up. It is not possible to consistently guess market movements and when they will bottom out or peak.
We recommend being patient with your stock holdings. They are long term investments. They will have periods of loss but, in the long run, they have produced good returns.
There is a distinct possibility is that the spike in energy and food prices will lead to recessions in various countries. This could help with the energy crises because recessions reduce energy demands.
This will likely continue to be a volatile market moving in response to Russia/Ukraine headlines. This is a time for discipline, including diversification across and within asset classes and periodic rebalancing.