For Some, Stocks are a Weapon in the War

Except for its proximity to the site of one of the nation's greatest tragedies, the stock market temporarily became irrelevant last week.

That is, until it was given a new role to play--as a potential weapon of retaliation.

Closed for four of five days, the same market that had demanded so much of Americans' attention on its way up in 1999 and early 2000, and then on its way down for most of the last 18 months, suddenly lost its place on the country's list of truly meaningful concerns in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's attacks.

There were far more important things to worry about than the prices of shares and the value of retirement savings accounts.

But as the week wore on, the shuttered market became a touchstone for those trying to measure the mettle of the country.

Early in the week a key question was: How will the market react to the reality of massive terrorist strikes on U.S. soil?

By late in the week, with trading still suspended as New York struggled with the enormity of the disaster, many investors' attitude toward the market, and how it would fare, mimicked the nation's attitude toward the perpetrators of the attacks: a resolute defiance.

The market, many Americans decided, could be used to deliver a form of payback. Consider:

* A Harris Interactive online poll of 4,600 adults found that 99% said they would not sell any of their stock holdings, despite the substantial new risks to the economy and national security.

* Cisco Systems, one of the nation's leading technology companies, announced it committed $3 billion to buy back a chunk of its own shares over the next two years, beginning once trading resumes. Cisco CEO John Chambers specifically cited the company's "tremendous confidence in the financial systems of our country, in our industry and in our market-leading position both today and into the future."

A deluge of similar announcements could come this week, abetted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which said Friday that it will allow companies to repurchase shares without being hindered by usual restrictions on timing and trading volume.

* On Friday, Pete du Pont, the former governor of Delaware and current policy chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis think tank, wrote an open letter to Americans suggesting that, "If you have the means, buy a share of stock as soon as the markets open. This will show confidence in the soundness of the American economy and will show the world and any would-be terrorists that they cannot break the American economy."