Now that hostilities between Iraq and the United States have commenced, investors are completely preoccupied with the potential effects of an elongated conflict and the promised reconstruction.

In a speech to the nation Wednesday night, U.S. President George W. Bush promised to do the job that his father didn’t do in 1991 — remove Saddam Hussein from power.

Meanwhile, investors don’t know whether to cash in on recent gains or hold tight. Overseas markets rallied after the bombs began to fall, but now U.S. futures markets are dropping, pointing to a weak opening for equity markets Thursday.

Overnight, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average climbed 144.01 points on the hope that the military campaign will be short. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng added 35.97 points to close at 9,194.56.

In London, the FTSE 100 is up 0.22% in early afternoon action. Frankfurt’s DAX has added 0.94%. Paris’s CAC 40 is up 0.5%. There are signs, however, that these increases are receeding.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Thrusday that initial jobless claims dropped last week for the second week in a row. The number of workers filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell by 4,000 to 421,000.

In Canadian news, Statistics Canada said Thursday that wholesale sales of goods and services rose a robust 1.8% to $36.7 billion, the eighth consecutive monthly increase. This has been the longest period of growth since 1998-1999, when sales advanced for twelve months in a row.

But economics, even good reports, are likely to be ignored today.