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Wall Street stocks shrug off Capitol Hill unrest
Afp, New York
Wall Street stocks mostly rose Wednesday, shrugging off unrest in Washington as rioters, angry supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, stormed the US Capitol, disrupting a vote to make official Trump’s November election defeat.
The display drew shudders from commentators worried about a democracy on edge, and some politicians decried an attempted coup. But even with the chaos, the Dow still finished at an all-time high.Investors are essentially running out the clock on Trump’s term and expect the US to move on soon. “I think there’s just a realization that’s what’s happening today is the end,” said FHN Financial’s Chris Low. “We should be back to a more rational universe within a week or two.
The occupation of the US Capitol came shortly after Vice President Mike Pence announced he would not intervene to stop the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, drawing criticism from Trump, who continued to falsely claim the election was somehow fraudulent.
In a defiant speech to supporters who gathered in Washington at his behest, Trump vowed, “we will never give up. “Hours later, a flag-waving mob broke down barricades, and smashed glass doors of the Capitol, swarming inside, rampaging through offices and onto the usually solemn legislative floors.
One woman was shot and killed, and others injured inside the Capitol, police said.
Lawmakers were evacuated and huddled in offices and inside the chamber wearing gas masks as security forces guarded the doors with guns drawn.Major indices retreated from their session peaks, but both the Dow and S&P 500 ended higher, with the blue-chip index at records.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities, said the market is looking past the chaos and ahead to the transition to the Biden administration.Investors also were cheered by the Democratic sweep of the two Georgia Senate runoffs, which give them control of the upper house and raised the odds of more stimulus. “The assumption is that these domestic terrorists will be removed and that a new administration will take office in 14 days,” Hogan said. “The market, like it or not, tends to model things that have financial impacts,” Hogan said. “It’s hard to model this to financial implications.

World food price index rises for seventh month
Reuters, Rome
World food prices rose for a seventh consecutive month in December, with all the major categories, barring sugar, posting gains last month, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 107.5 points last month versus 105.2 in November.
The November figure was previously given as 105.0.
For the whole of 2020, the benchmark index averaged 97.9 points, a three-year high and a 3.1 per cent increase from 2019. It was still down more than 25 per cent from its historical peak in 2011.
Vegetable oil prices continued recent strong gains, jumping 4.7 per cent month-on-month in December after surging more than 14.0 per cent in November. For the whole of 2020, the index was up 19.1 per cent on 2019.
FAO said supply tightness in major palm oil producing countries had pushed prices up, while trade was also impacted by a sharp hike in export duties in Indonesia. Prices for soy oil rose partly because of prolonged strikes in Argentina.
The cereal price index posted a more modest 1.1 per cent rise in December from the month before. For all of 2020 the index averaged 6.6 per cent above 2019 levels.
Export prices for wheat, maize, sorghum and rice all rose in December, moving higher in part due to concerns over growing conditions and crop prospects in North and South America as well as Russia, the Rome-based FAO said.
The dairy index climbed 3.2 per cent on the month, however, over the whole of 2020, it averaged some 1.0 per cent less than in 2019.
In December, all components of the index rose due to strong global import demand triggered by concerns over drier and warmer conditions on Oceania’s milk production as well as high internal demand in Western Europe.