Middle Eastern and North African equities plunged between October 10 and 16 in a regional dip that was big, widespread and not caused by anything local or even a real change of economic conditions elsewhere. With double digit falls in Dubai, Riyadh and Cairo, plus drops of more than five percent in Muscat, Doha and Abu Dhabi, the year’s deepest single week fall in several Arab markets in week 42 was a testimony to edginess of investors here and abroad who appear over determined to not be caught with their hands full of stocks at the moment when the developed economies’ bull market swings to a baisse. This fear of a global dive has been around for weeks and weeks. So when the Dow, the S&P 500, the Nikkei and various European indices ran into turbulence in early October and tumbled even more on October 10, Arab markets saw overselling
