The Egyptian riots have subsided over the weekend, however they are planed to renew tomorrow with a big protest. On Friday, crude oil price rose by several percent points. The protest tomorrow will probably set the tone for the rest of the week and, among other, its affect on crude oil price.
Crude oil price update:
Crude oil price (WTI spot) after rising on Friday by 4.32% as it settled on 89.34 $/b as the riots in Egypt escalated, some expect it to continue to rise as the Middle East is heating up;
The Nymex crude oil price, short term futures (March 2011 delivery) is currently traded at 89.55 USD / barrel, a 0.21 USD/b incline or a 0.24% rise.
The Dated Brent spot crude oil is at 98.75 USD / barrel – a 0.2 USD/ barrel increase, which is 0.2%.
The Egyptian riots have subsided over the weekend; however, they are far from over. Tomorrow a huge protest is planned against the current President Hosni Mubarak; in preparations for the protest, a general strike will take place tomorrow in Egypt. Furthermore, despite the curfew many people slept in Tahrir square in the center of Cairo in anticipations for the rally tomorrow (Tuesday, 1/2/2011).
President Mubarak addressed the Egyptian nation and fired his government and promised to take drastic steps including appointing a new government.
Israel sent a message to the US and several countries in Europe that the world has a lot to loose if Mubarak regime will be overthrown as it could affect the stability on the region.
The Israeli news reports that there are protesters in Egypt who also cry out against Israel; probably it includes extremists such as the Muslim Brothers.
As a result, the risk premium of many countries in the Middle East rose; this, in turn, caused stock markets indexes in Israel and Egypt decline precipitately over the weekend.
If these riots will further escalate it could continue to raise the risk in the Middle East and consequentially raise major energy commodities, including crude oil price (WTI and Brent). We will have to see how tomorrow protest will go and how it will affect major markets around the world.
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