Libyan unrest has triggered a surge in oil prices. Unlike Egypt, Libya exports 1.1 million barrels of oil per day. The turmoil drove Brent crude prices to a multiyear high of of $105.per barrel.

European equities fell 1% and gold powered above $1,400 per ounce. For weeks the Egyptian unrest did not affect the markets. In fact U.S. equities rallied to new two-year highs. Now, however, the situation is different. Libya has taken a hard line against protesters, throwing the country into a deep crisis.

The Dow broke 12,000 today. What's next? Again we have those who say the glass is half full and those who say it is half empty.

Traders believe that the glass is half full. Dow 12,000 is only a number, although a psychological number. Round numbers catch the public's attention. There will be sellers screaming 'get me out' if they have recouped their losses. The market probably will absorb the half empty guys and march upward. That may not be a straight line, but the momentum is strong enough to push higher.

Citigroup, Inc. (C) could have done better. Revenue from bond trading took a big hit. John Gerspach, Chief Financial Officer acknowledged that fixed income was weak and needs fixing.

Citi's profit was $1.3 billion compared with the year earlier loss of $7.6 billion. Revenue more than tripled to $18.4 billion from $5.4 billion a year ago. However it fell 11% from the third quarter. Citi has been aggressive in hiring more bankers causing expenses to rise. Earnings per share were four cents compared with a loss of 33 cents a year ago, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Alaska Pipeline Service, which operates the Trans Alaska Pipeline, on Saturday told BP (BP) and other producers to reduce their output by 95%. An extended shutdown could drive oil prices to $100 per barrel.

This is a nasty situation coming in the middle of winter. The Wall Street Journal quoted BP spokeman Steve Rinehart who said that this is a "significant event." He further added: that the latest shutdown means "a big reduction" in the middle of winter "when we have temperature and weather challenges."

Barron's is forecasting a 10% rise in stock prices in 2011 led by big cap stocks. They argue that the big caps have lagged the market for the past decade and are now poised to take the lead, as reported by CNBC.com.

Here are their top ten picks for this year: Exxon Mobil (XOM), Walmart (WMT), Pfizer (PFE), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), General Motors (GM), Cisco Systems (CSCO), United Continental Holdings (UAL), Barrack Gold (ABX), Entergy (ETR), and PepsiCo (PEP).

It's a story for the record books. You could not have made this stuff up, it's so incredible.

The story deals with the behind the scenes activities of the Federal Reserve during the financial meltdown. The data revealed by the Fed and chronicled in the Wall Street Journal tell of the multi-trillion dollar loans the Fed made to financial institutions here in the US and abroad. In all, the Fed set up 10 different programs and lent some $3.3 trillion of credit.

On a quiet Tuesday two days before Thanksgiving, you wake up to find that North Korea has shelled an island off the coast of South Korea. You turn on your computer to find that the incident has triggered a sell off on Wall Street. The Dow dropped 120 points to 11,056. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1% to 2506, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

You are probably wondering why this small confrontation between North and South Korea is causing all this turmoil. For one thing the market dislikes uncertainty, especially when international power balances are being breached. This is the first salvo in what could be a nasty situation. When something like this happens, traders simply bail out and wait to see what happens next.

Gold shot past $1,400 per ounce to $1,410.4 on the December contract. Triggering the move were worries about sovereign debt levels in Europe and uncertainty concerning the upcoming G-20 meeting, as the Wall Street Journal reports.

First to Europe. The cost of insuring against defaults in countries like Ireland, Portugal and Spain has increased. Ireland's debt, in particular, is causing concern. Interest rates on Irish bonds has risen to 7.8% against Germany's 2.5%.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued its statement indicating again that interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time and that proceeds of Treasury securities will continue to be re-invested into additional Treasury securities.

There will also be additional quantitative easing. This will take the form of the purchase of an additional "$600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011, a pace of about $75 billion per month," according to the Fed's statement. This was well within the $500 billion to $1 trillion range expected by many economists and strategists. Thus, the current program appears to be largely discounted by the market.

A day does not pass that I do not think of John Maynard Keynes saying, "The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent."

Two weeks have passed since I raised questions about the insider selling at Oracle (ORCL). Since that time, management continues to sell as the stock hovers around its 52-week high, and it has appeared in the top five of Barron's insider activity list sell side for both weeks. Add to this the concerns raised about Oracle's potential weakness in the world of cloud computing and there are major question marks looming.