PEACE campaigners have condemned a “alarming” call by an investment research firm for shareholders to keep adding to their portfolios despite an “uncomfortably high” chance of a nuclear apocalypse being triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  

Canadian company BCA Research is advising its customers to “stay bullish” on stocks and “largely ignore existential risk,” as their investments will become irrelevant if the crisis leads to a civilisation-destroying conflict. 

The firm put the chance of a devastating atomic war in the next 12 months at 10 per cent after Russian President Vladimir Putin placed his nuclear forces on high alert, warning the West not to interfere with his widely condemned act of aggression. 

BCA chief global strategist Peter Berezin wrote: “Despite the risk of nuclear war, it makes sense to stay constructive on stocks over the next 12 months.

“If an ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] is heading your way, the size and composition of your portfolio becomes irrelevant.

“Thus, from a purely financial perspective, you should largely ignore existential risk.

“The risk of armageddon has risen dramatically. Stay bullish on stocks over a 12-month horizon.”

Ukrainian officials have reported many civilian deaths and widespread devastation since Russia’s attack began on February 24.

Global stock markets have tumbled, with last week being the FTSE 100’s worst since March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic led to national lockdowns.

In the last seven days, more than £130 billion has been wiped off the value of Britain’s blue-chip shares, those belonging to the biggest and supposedly most financially secure companies. 

Mr Berezin added: “If Putin concludes that he has no future, the risk is that he will decide that no-one else should have a future either.”

He warned that markets could experience a “freak-out moment” over the next few weeks, even if World War III is averted. 

Tory Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has tried to play down the threat of a wider conflict, saying that Mr Putin is brandishing his nuclear arsenal in a “battle of rhetoric,” but campaigners warn that the situation is becoming increasingly volatile.

Peace Pledge Union campaign manager Symon Hill told the Morning Star that the firm’s advice would be “laughable if it were not so alarming.”

He added: “Nothing could better illustrate the absurdity of militaristic capitalism than the advice to ‘ignore existential risk’ for financial purposes.

“This is the logical outcome of a system that uses humanity to serve finance, rather than the other way around.

“Faced with the risk of nuclear war, we need to unite and resist militarism – not sit and calmly work out how it will affect the middle-class gambling den that is the stock market.”

Also speaking to the Star, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Kate Hudson said: “While investors look to pick up cheap Russian and Ukrainian bonds as if they are picking over the bones on a battlefield, this advice to ignore ‘existential risk’ is the free market gone completely mad.

“Now is not the time to ignore the increasing nuclear threat, it’s the time to protest and survive.”