Following the recent news and unrest that the Middle East is experiencing and a poor performance in the stock exchange many gulf stocks were suffering historical lows due to thenegative publicity of the region. This already tumultuous scenario was further worsened with theGCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) all out invasion of Bahrain under the pretense of policing andhave many investors in the region pulling out their money due to suspect foul play.That being said on the 21
st
of March irrespective of the general environment, many Gulf stocksbounced back strongly with the benchmark index of Dubai and Qatar closing on a months highof 2.6 percent high. This is very unusual since concerns are growing for the region due to theregion experiencing another mini gulf war, with the western coalition forces exercising the use of military personnel on Libya.Upon closer examination of the environment it was observed that many markets felt re-invigorated after KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) announced a social welfare package of astaggering amount $93 Billion.Dubai¶s Financial market index rose by 38.19 points on the 17
th
of March before the weekend(since in the Middle East the weekends fall on Friday and Saturday) and out of the 26 stocks thatwere traded before the week¶s end only four stocks experienced a lost while three remainedunchanged.Many investors in Abu Dhabi also known as the Garden City of UAE were expressing concernsover the steadily deteriorating landscape and this reflected in their stock exchange with themarket performing poorly over four days. This trend was reversed once KSA made the socialwelfare announcement and the market ended the day on a high of 0.67 percent.The main organizations that are benefiting from the current regional landscape are companiesthat are related to infrastructure and banking. This is due to many of the populace in the regionsuccumbing to panic buying and stocking up on amenities due to the deteriorating situation inOman, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE.The news coming out of KSA must have sounded like a breath of fresh for a region that isplagued by political uncertainty. This could be one of the main factors which lead to KingAbdullah establishing a mandate which ordered for an increase in spending and up to $65 Billionset aside for improving the housing conditions for the countries populace. This news lead to theSaudi share index
Tadawul
rising by 4.51 percent. This is a really significant because it is the
highest the index ever closed since the political uncertainty struck the region since the late Feb2011.Even though the situation in the Middle East is worrying many financial moguls are predictingthat the situation would benefit Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia the most. Just like the spark of revolution in Tunisia which spread like a tidal wave across the Middle East the announcementfrom KSA has spread much needed confidence in the market like a wave which lead to Qatar¶smain index to rise by 2.6 per cent which is its highest ever value since the 13
th
of March. One of the major players in the Qatar stock exchange is an Islamic Lending company named Masraf AlRayan which saw a of 3.8 percent. Even Oman where riots are a norm saw its index MSM30finish its week on a rise of 1.33 percent.Albeit the good news for many countries Bahrain and Kuwait did not share the same optimismwith their stock exchange reflecting the countries pessimism Kuwait¶s SE price Index falling by0.2 percent and Bahrain¶s benchmark index falling by 1.6 percentThe purpose behind the selection of this article is that it shows the intricate dance that occurs inthe International Financial Market (IFM). Due to this it is important to understand the termsInternational Finance and market, since IFM is a marriage between the two fields. In its mostLehman term International finance is a study of futures, options and currency swaps whereas theterm market means the total amount of possible buyers and sellers of a certain commodity andtransactions that occur in the process e.g. stock exchange or commodity exchanges.That being said people are one of the main building blocks of the IFM. The current fiscalscenario that is spreading through the Middle East like a pathogen has the general populace inthe region yearning for freedom and change. This pathogen has already seen two dictatorshipstopple in Tunisia and Egypt and with the third (Libya) on the brink of collapse. It is very criticalto notice how the changes that are taking place in this part of the world are reverberatingglobally. The Middle East is one of the main suppliers of Oil and it shows the trend betweensupply and demand and how if this chain is disrupted it effects the global market. Crude oil isnow selling at $110.06 a barrel (Crude Oil Price).It shows how the general populace can influence the market globally because at the end of theday IFM is steered by public emotions. Due to the unprecedented reforms taking place in Egypt,Tunisia and Libya other countries in the Middle East have to increase their oil productions to
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A thread by the name of crude oil that binds the world
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