Perhaps even more importantly, in addition to the short-term impact on oil production, the insurgency in Iraq and civil war in Syria have the potential to dramatically alter national boundaries in the Middle East.
In other words, there may be longer-term implications and potentially significant changes to international borders. Under this scenario, energy prices may remain elevated for a prolonged period of time, which could add additional pressure to several major economies, including the United States, China and India.
As for what this means for investors, higher oil prices, coupled with still reasonable valuations in the energy sector, support a continued overweight to energy stocks. At the same time, higher oil and gas prices represent yet another headwind for a U.S. consumer already struggling with slow wage growth and high personal debt. In a world of modest growth and a strapped consumer, I believe a cautious view toward consumer stocks is warranted.
Sources: BlackRock, Bloomberg
Russ Koesterich, CFA, is the Chief Investment Strategist for BlackRock and iShares Chief Global Investment Strategist. He is a regular contributor to The Blog and you can find more of his posts here.