Dangerous World

Gone for a few months, and look what happens! The number of countries with State Department Travel Warnings skyrockets! From 25 to 29!

State Department Travel Warnings Over Time

Of course, looks like these four were all added in the last 2 weeks, and looks like they are all hurricane related. No countries were dropped from the list. The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos were added on September 1st for Hurricane Frances. Cuba and Grenada were added on September 9th for Hurricane Ivan. Given the nature of these warnings, I expect the SDTW Index to drop back to the normal level of around 25 in a few weeks absent other developments.