Complacency Is Cracking as Goldman Clients Brace for Stocks Rout

Confidence among global stock-market investors, who largely kept their cool in the face of an escalating conflict in the Middle East, is starting to wear thin.

Three weeks since the war in Iran began, concern is now growing that the conflict won’t end anytime soon — and that its impact on the economy and the stock market will be more severe than previously expected. The S&P 500 is down 1.6% over the past two sessions, breaking below its 200-day moving average and hitting a four-month low. Europe’s Stoxx 600 benchmark plunged 2.4% on Thursday, hitting a three-month low.

According to ...