There will be a number of events that may directly or indirectly impact a business (eg. 2021 Suez Canal Blockage). Here are a few examples of world events that resulted in a number of stocks rising and falling in a short period of time.
Covid Pandemic
Online learning tools like Zoom (ZM) saw a huge rise in need
Moderna (MRNA), Phizer(PFE), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) increased in sales due to vaccines
Amazon (AMZN) saw saw a huge increase in online shopping
Square (SQ), PayPal (PYPL) all saw increases in part to increased spending via their platforms for online shopping
Netflix (NFLX) and other online subscriptions, including home fitness, saw a huge increase during the pandemic
Financial Crisis
Increase in the interest of Cryptocurrency
Crypto miners became popular - RIOT (RIOT), Marathon (MARA), Coinbase (COIN)
Cypto value goes down, crypto mining and exchanges goes down
Green Initiative/Electric Vehicle
Rise in companies like Tesla (TSLA), Lucid Motors (LCID), Nio (NIO)
Rise in microchip manufacturers: Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), NVDIA (NVDA)
Meme Stocks (Attempt to avoid or be extremely conservative/cautious)
AMC Theaters (AMC) and the king of them all GameStop (GME) took the market by storm and saw people make millions and others lose millions (Remember, supply and demand, winners and losers)
Stimulating the Economy (see Quantitative Tightening vs Quantitative Easing)
Quantitative Easing - When the economy is experiencing hardship, a central bank buys bonds to drive down longer-term rates. As it creates money for those purchases, it increases the supply of bank reserves in the financial system, and the hope is that lenders go on to pass that liquidity along as credit to companies and households, spurring growth.
Quantitative Tightening - conversely, means reducing the supply of bank reserves through making periodic bond purchases.
Tapering - refers to the Federal Open Market Committee (FEDS - Federal Reserve) creating policies that modify the central bank activities. This can take place by changing Discount Rate (FEDS lower or raise interest rates on short term loans to Commercial Banks) or by changing the Reserve Requirements (the minimum amount commercial banks are required to have on hand at any given time due to sudden withdrawals).
In March 2021, the Suez Canal was blocked for six days .
As one of the world's busiest trade routes, the canal obstruction had a significant negative impact on trade between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
On March, at least 369 ships were queuing to pass through the canal. This prevented an estimated US$9.6 billion worth of trade.
Russia Invading Ukraine (2022)
NATO approved sanctions against Russia for their war on Ukraine
One of the sanctions restricted business with Russia; ergo Oil
Due to the restrictions, the price of oil rose significantly as countries now required oil from other countries
Companies that drill, refine/process, ship, or provide equipment to these companies all saw an increase in their share price