Merryn Talks Money

The Reason Markets Don’t Care About the Iran War

Passive investing is the culprit.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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You’d think that if very expensive share prices slammed into global political chaos and a nasty energy crisis there’d be a crash. A durable correction at least.

You’d be wrong. This year at least. Instead, in 2026, we are getting non-stop new highs. This could all make sense. Maybe the market has learned to look through things, taking a lesson from the pandemic. Maybe we are in the early stages of an artificial intelligence-driven productivity boom and profits will boom some more.