The trading week opened with stocks falling on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange this morning, with the Tel Aviv 25 Index down 0.78% at 1316.57 points by 10:40 am. This follows a 3% drop last week, and declines on Wall Street on Friday.
Union Bank of Israel is not deterred by the falls on the stock exchange in the past few sessions, and maintains its recommendation to hold equities at a level of 18% in a regular portfolio and 28% in a speculative portfolio.
Investors around the world will be looking to the US Federal Reserve, with the Open Market Committee due to publish its monetary policy decision this week. The question is whether the quantitative easing program, whereby the Fed buys government bonds to the tune of $85 million monthly, will start to be tapered off, in view of the improvement in the US labor market and in the US economy in general.
In Israel, the Consumer Price Index figures for November will be published today, with analysts expecting a zero reading.
Opko Health is falling sharply; it is currently down nearly 8%. The stock carries a large negative arbitrage gap, after a downgrade to "Sell" from Lakewood Capital, in a report in which it which it said "It is our belief that Opko will never report a profit". Opko called Lakewood's report "distorted and inaccurate".
The Tel Aviv District Court is due to decide the fate of IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) today. Unless there are last minute surprises, the most likely decision is that Judge Eitan Orenstin will accept the stance of the company's creditors, who voted in favor of the bid by Eduardo Elsztain and Moti Ben-Moshe, and against that of the Dankner-Granovsky consortium.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 15, 2013
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