Middle EastWhen riots broke out in first in Tunisia, and then Egypt, most investors in North America initially thought - so what. Consider that Egypt is the most populous country in the Middle East. There are 18 Million in Cairo alone.
The recent parabolic rise in food prices is one of the main reasons for rioting. Since most people on the planet survive on a few dollars a day, a rise in food prices becomes very serious. The stock market in Egypt fell 17% over a few days last week. The mkt in Saudi Arabia fell 6.4% last night:
"The
Tadawul All Share Index tumbled 6.4 percent, the most since May 25, to 6,267.22 at the 3:30 p.m. close in
Riyadh. All but one of the 146 shares fell.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s largest petrochemical maker, slumped 7.5 percent.
Savola Azizia United Co., a food producer with subsidiaries in
Egypt, dropped 10 percent, the maximum fluctuation allowed in a single trading session.
“There is a lot of worry looming among investors that we’re going to see a domino effect across the region,” said Amro Halwani, a trader at Shuaa Capital PSC in Riyadh. “That is pushing investors away from equities and straight into cash. It is panic selling across the board.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-29/saudi-arabian-stocks-tumble-most-in-eight-months-as-egyptians-defy-curfew.html
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