Shipping Companies Up on Egypt Unrest

One stock sector moving on the upside on Egypt: shipping companies like Frontier , Teekay , and Overseas Shipping up 4 or 5 percent. They are rallying on concerns that the Egyptian unrest could affect operations at the Suez Canal. Any disruption at the Suez Canal would cause tanker rates to go up, since they would be required to go around the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom of Africa. That is a lot farther to travel and would reduce tonnage supply.

Elsewhere, ripple effects are noticeable:

1) The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is up 20 percent, its largest intraday gain in several months.

2) While consolidated volume at the NYSE is a bit higher than normal (2.4 billion shares), there is notably higher volume in several ETFs, particularly the iShares Emerging Markets Index ETF which has already suprassed 100 million shares, 50 percent more than an average day's trading.

3) oil up 4 percent .

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Bear in mind that weak earnings from Amazon and Ford, and lower than expected GDP numbers for the fourth quarter, are also impacting the markets. And the relentless rally we have seen since September is clearly a major factor as well.

The Egypt Crisis:

• Video: Violent Protests in the Streets of Cairo
• Gold Climbs on Safe-Haven Trade
• Slideshow: Scenes Across the Middle East Protests

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