A more plausible explanation for the mysterious billion dollar investments is that anonymous investors had insider knowledge that an attack against Iran would occur before September 21, and this would involve nuclear weapons. If an aerial attack occurred along the scale described by the Sunday Times report and involved nukes, then the U.S. stock market would collapse as oil prices escalated dramatically. This would spark a global recession, and cause great hardship to many Americans who would find their investments and jobs at risk.