[RayChuang88]

I was watching Fox News Channel today and they area saying there is serious worries that this catastrophe could actually have a MAJOR effect on the world economy.

This is because Thailand's Phuket Island area, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are major destinations for tourists from Europe escaping the cold European winters. With the enormous destruction caused by the tsunamis, the resort areas may take several years to recover, and that could seriously affect the economies of Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives for the foreseeable future.

Watch the stocks around the world take a nosedive for the next few days as the effects of the disaster are absorbed by equities markets.

[steve86]

Watch the stocks around the world take a nosedive for the next few days

Doesn't necessarily work that way. The Thai SET market is down about 1.45% right now, and other Asian markets are down only a fraction of a percent. The U.S. futures are positive. We'll have to see what Europe does in a few hours.