A drone hit two ships at an Egyptian Mediterranean port. The attack went unclaimed. Iran, the Houthis, and Iraqi militias have been striking energy infrastructure across the region. Your portfolio is not hedged for this. Your portfolio is not hedged for anything.
Retail traders spent the morning googling "which Mediterranean port" and "is Egypt in the Middle East" and "do I own oil stocks." They do not own oil stocks. They own three shares of a company that makes plant-based hamburgers and a fractional share of Tesla they bought at $847.
The ships were at port. Sitting still. The drone still found them. Modern warfare has reached a point where stationary targets the size of apartment buildings get hit by flying robots, and somehow day traders think they can time the VIX.
Energy infrastructure attacks are widening. That is the word used when explosions spread to new countries. Widening. Like a paint stain. Like a business opportunity. Analysts will call this a geopolitical risk premium. What they mean is the price of oil goes up when things explode near the oil.
No group claimed responsibility. That is how confident you can be when you are hitting ships with drones. You do not even need to take credit. The ships know. Egypt knows. The market does not care until it cares, and then it cares for eleven minutes during pre-market trading before forgetting again.
Some trader in Ohio just added "Mediterranean drone attacks" to his watchlist between "Fed minutes" and "Elon tweet archive." He will check it twice, understand nothing, and buy a call option on an energy ETF he cannot spell. The option will expire worthless. The ships will get repaired. The drones will hit something else. And that trader will still be convinced he just needs one more indicator.
Photo by Fatih Beki on Unsplash
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