New York, Aug 22: After enduring the September 11 attacks on the United States, a controversial war in Iraq and the deadly outbreak of SARS, investors appear to be growing a thicker skin about the world’s ugly surprises. “We have had a steady diet of terrible news, and on top of that everybody lost half their money in their retirement funds,” said Philip Dow, director of equity strategy at RBC Dain Rauscher. “We have survived a lot of perils, both imagined and real.”
In a sign of its new-found resilience, the stock market on Tuesday held its ground after the latest violence rocked Iraq. A truck bomb devastated the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad shortly before the market opened. At least 20 people were killed, including the UN special envoy to Iraq.

Another disturbing headline flashed across computer and television screens later that session. An explosion ripped through a bus in Jerusalem, killed 18 people and dealt another blow to a US-backed peace plan. Stocks inched down on the second piece of bleak news but trudged higher by the closing bell.
“You divide your personal emotions from professional emotions,” said Brian Pears, head of equity trading at Victory Capital Management. “Personally, they are all tragic, but, professionally, if anything, they bring focus to the idea that we have to stay committed to fighting the war against terrorism.”
Other shocks, not caused by terrorists, have been taken in stride as well. Investors last week shrugged off the worst power outage in North American history. Sudden sell-offs after deadly world events were commonplace on Wall Street shortly after September 11, ’01, with Americans reeling from the shock of an attack on their homeland.
A plane bound for the Dominican Republic crashed in New York in November ’01; a small plane plowed through a Milan skyscraper in April ’02 and a gasoline barge exploded off New York’s Staten Island in February ’03. Bureau Report