      What could possibly be so powerful, so world encompassing? How aboutthe Asian Flu of 1997?! Indeed, the flu quickly found its way into thetrade winds and jetstreams and encompassed the world with lightning speed.Fear and panic set in, and before anyone could utter a word of rationaldissent, the financial markets of the planet sharply corrected in aHalloween sell-off comparable to Black Monday (which, strangely enough,occurred almost exactly 10 years earlier).