Not long ago, national economies were more or less isolated from one another, and major shake-ups in one country – whether geopolitical (civil unrest, military coup, invasion) or natural (earthquake, tsunami) – rarely affected the economy of another.

Things are different in the Internet-era globalized economy today, and rarely there had been so many international incidents occurring in such rapid succession.

In a matter of weeks, Egypt overturned its 32-yr old regime, which in turn fueled civil unrest in Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Syria and even Saudi Arabia. Then came the devastating double punch of earthquake and tsunami in Japan. And before the dust settled there, USA and its NATO allies began bombing Libya.

Considering Japan’s status as the world’s third largest economy, and America’s dependence on Middle East’s oil supply, little wonder US market feels the strain of such global uncertainty, especially when the economy is on a slow rebound from one of the worst recessions in history. And this may continue for a while, as this CNN Money article muses.

• Browse by keyword

  asset allocation bond bull market buy and hold CD CPI demand supply depreciation diversification DOW efficient market FDIC fixed income fundamental analysis globalization harden wordpress household sector index fund Inflation interest rate Investing investing book market timing money market NASDAQ neuroeconomics new car psychology Random walk down Wall Street retirement risk S&P 500 saving security stock Stock Market stock picking T bill used car value investing variable income VIN warranty Warren Buffett wordpress