by Jerry Robinson

Good morning friends! Just a brief update today at the end of the week.

All Eyes on the Middle East… And Oil… New reports of Gaddafi’s militia opening fire on unarmed protesters in the streets of Libya. Despite the imminent threat of death, thousands of protesters continue to publicly demand the ouster of “the Butcher” from power.

And now… Talk of U.S.-NATO military intervention if the situation continues to escalate… Such action could shake the global financial markets and send oil prices skyrocketing on new uncertainties in the region.

The Question: If the U.S. will intervene in Libya, will it also intervene in other Mideast uprisings? (As always, it will depend upon how much of “our oil” is under “their sand.”)

Regarding oil, most analysts expect Libya’s oil exports to remain offline for a ‘prolonged period of time’… The Saudis have offered to pick up the slack. Oil prices responded by softening slightly. Still, the air is tense in the markets. Any bad news out of the Middle East will send oil prices soaring… Don’t expect oil prices to collapse from here as there is still far too much uncertainty. It appears that oil will close on Friday with its biggest weekly gain in two years…

Chaos in the streets of Baghdad during Iraq’s planned ”day of rage’… Thousands of protesters attend; six killed so far. The excitement of revolution in the air was too tempting to Iraqi radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr… He’s now in Najaf after three years in Iran.

And now… Nukes in Syria?

Al-Jazeera: The enemy of dictators. Watch live feed here…

Also in the news…

1) MARCH 4 PANIC: If you can actually stomach anymore of the political hyperbole about the coming government “shut down” on March 4, read here.

2) LONDON EXCHANGE ‘GLITCH’: For the second time, the London Stock Exchange suffered a ‘mysterious’ glitch in trading at the open, angering many clients and traders…

3) Wisconsin Update: State lawmakers passed a bill stripping the unions of their ability to siphon off more benefits from the taxpayers… Now it heads to the state Senate.

4) Cheery Consumers: The Consumer Sentiment numbers for February hit a three year high showing that Americans believe the economy is improving and more jobs are on the way…

5) Oops: The Federal Government revised its Q4 GDP numbers for 2010… Growth rate down to 2.8% from the previously reported 3.2%.

Finally… Citigroup says that the U.S. will drop to the world’s second largest economy in 2020 – behind China – and the third largest economy in 2050 – behind India…

Why So Serious?… It’s time to laugh a little.

“Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi described President Obama as an African of Arab and Muslim descent. After the speech, Gadhafi was given his own show on Fox News.” –Conan O’Brien

“Sarah Palin is going to a political conference in India next month. Palin said she’s loved India ever since she saw “Hoosiers.”” –Jimmy Fallon

“The price of oil is rising because of all the unrest in the Middle East. And the unrest in Wisconsin is causing the price of cheese to go through the roof.” –Jay Leno

Cartoon of the Day…

Until tomorrow,

Jerry Robinson – FTMDaily.com

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Jerry Robinson is an economist, published author, columnist, international conference speaker, and the editor of the financial website, FTMDaily.com. In addition, Robinson hosts a weekly radio program entitled Follow the Money Weekly, an hour long radio show dedicated to deciphering the week’s economic news.

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