So far, there's little sign that the upheaval in Egypt is producing jitters in the world economy. But there may be troubles yet to come. The stock market fell sharply when the crowds first took to the streets in Egypt — a country that sits astride the Suez Canal and has major oil producers to its east and west.
But this week, the stock market rebounded. The price of oil has risen since the protests began, but not dramatically. "Largely, people ... have this wait-and-see attitude," says Bhushan Bahree, a senior director at IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. "There is anxiety, but there's also a lot of restraint in the markets."
There are good reasons not to panic: The global economy is fundamentally in pretty good shape. The initial shock in the markets was due to worries that the Suez Canal might be closed. When that didn't happen, investors breathed a sigh of relief.
Too soon? "The market may be underestimating the longer-term impact of this," says David Gordon, global director of research at the Eurasia Group, a risk analysis firm.
Source: npr.org
