The oil business to business hasn’t really suffered from Libya’s unrest. While a 10% rise in oil prices is supposed to drop global GDP by a quarter of a point, the 4.5% growth won’t be badly affected, even if oil rises to $150 a barrel.  There has been much reassurance from the Saudis that they can pump to pick up the slack.

Americans have low inflation and the central bank can easily ignore the sudden rise in oil prices. But around the world, rising food prices will be felt even more severely as inflation rises. That means that more unrest could be imminent as the countries who feel this the most are the emerging economies like China, Brazil and India and the Mideast. Food subsidies are prevalent in these developing countries, which is bad, potentially bankrupting news as more money goes to oil and food.

And if political uncertainty continues, the prices will only rise faster. Food prices rose 2.2% last month to a record high. Staples like wheat, rice and corn are most in danger of becoming unaffordable for many.

In other news, the Euro rose against the dollar as ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said that inflation will remain where it is; borrowing costs will stay at 1%. This overwhelmed unexpected business job filings in the U.S.  The Dow Jones is up 170 points at midday.