The Japan earthquake won't rattle U.S. markets too much, and investors should continue buying here although on a selective basis, says billionaire investor Wilbur Ross.
While the natural disaster is a terrible human tragedy, economically speaking, it will be "containable," Ross tells Bloomberg.
"I think it's a terrible human tragedy because some people have lost their lives but as far I can tell, the actual amount of damage is not that consequential and the high probability is that a lot of it is insured," Ross says.
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| Wilbur Ross |
Ross adds he's keeping an eye on the Middle East even though events in Saudi Arabia haven't unraveled as much as markets had feared, and that looking ahead, the U.S. needs to continue to find ways to wean itself off foreign oil, especially buy developing more natural gas.
"I do think that the problems in the Mideast yet again emphasize we must cut our dependence on foreign oil, and I think one of the logical ways to do so would be more use of natural gas," Ross says.
"I believe we're going into a period where it won't be a stock market, it will be a market of individual stocks. I think therefore that one will have to be very careful about individual security selection."
Meanwhile, some are saying the size of the Japanese economy will help the country absorb losses stemming from the disaster.
"In a big economy like Japan, the impact of a natural disaster can be absorbed economically by the government and private insurance, so there will be no impact on government's finances and therefore Japan's sovereign rating," the Moody's ratings agency says, according to the BBC.
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