Sept. 11, 2001, had only a modest effect on the economy, but the shadows cast over the minds of investors still haven't lifted. The terrorist attacks set the stage for a decade of setbacks that have led many people to regard the stock market as a lost cause.
Ever since, investment portfolios have seemed to be at the mercy of what professional investors call "macro" forces: natural disasters, geopolitical shocks and sudden, systemic failures of stock markets and national economies, from Hurricane Katrina and the financial crisis to the Japanese earthquake and, now, the unraveling of Europe.
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