Nearly two weeks in, the ongoing war in Iran offers investors some confusing signals that may make it tough to predict how different assets and asset classes might respond. Airline stocks, unsurprisingly, have taken a tumble, but other industries have been less dramatically affected. The whole S&P 500 has only dropped by 2.3% in the last month, a modest decline given high levels of geopolitical uncertainty.
Volatile environments often lead investors to fall back on gold, but with prices of the metal up nearly 80% in the last year, it's unclear how much upside potential there is for the traditional safe-haven asset. On the other hand, the market shock from the start of the war did cause a brief—though modest—spike above $5,300 per ounce, and gold has subsequently fallen about 2% in recent days.
