Markets wary of Gideon Sa'ar joining government

Gideon Sa'ar  credit: Amit Shabi, Yedioth Aharonoth
Gideon Sa'ar credit: Amit Shabi, Yedioth Aharonoth

Energy Finance head Yossi Frank: Investors perceive removing Yoav Gallant as defense minister as political chaos.

The trend in yesterday’s session on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and on the foreign exchange market was negative, and worsened as the day wore on. This was contrary to the global trend of a weakening US dollar, and the mixed trend on European exchanges and in futures on Wall Street.

There are several reasons for the trend in Tel Aviv, such as uncertainty about the course of the war, but the main trigger that sent stocks downwards and weakened the shekel was the reports of the possibility that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was about to dismiss Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and replace him with Gideon Sa’ar, head of the New Hope party, which is currently outside the coalition. Until the early afternoon, the shekel had weakened by about 0.5% against the US dollar, but then the decline reached 1%. On the stock exchange, the Tel Aviv 35 Index fell by more than 1% as soon as the reports emerged, after being on a rise for most of the morning. The trend has continued this morning, with the Tel Aviv 35 Index currently down 0.65%, and the shekel weakening slightly against the US dollar and the euro..

Leader Capital Markets chief economist Jonathan Katz says that the removal of the defense minister "strengthens the assessment that we will not reach a ceasefire agreement (in the Gaza Strip) and will probably begin an additional campaign in the north, which will be liable to bring in train a further credit rating downgrade, leading to falls on the stock market." In his view, the prospect of a further rise in Israel’s risk premium is creating negative sentiment among investors. As long as the uncertainty increases, and replacing the minister of defense will contribute to that, the local stock market will weaken, as will the shekel."

Yossi Frank, head of Energy Finance - Financial Risk Management says, "Removing Gallant is perceived by investors as political chaos, and as raising the chances of a war in Lebanon, but there’s nothing happening on the market other than activity of speculators betting on confusion. No-one is buying dollars apart from them. The financial institutions are selling, exporters are selling, the dollar is weakening on world markets, the CPI reading should have led to a substantial strengthening of the shekel. But when the market is in a state of confusion, everyone can do what he wants."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 17, 2024.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.

Gideon Sa'ar  credit: Amit Shabi, Yedioth Aharonoth
Gideon Sa'ar credit: Amit Shabi, Yedioth Aharonoth
Unframe founders credit: Yossi Yarom Israeli AI enterprise platform co Unframe raises $50m

Unframe’s turnkey AI solutions enable companies to solve any enterprise AI use case at scale with fully functional, customized AI solutions for businesses in a matter of hours, rather than months.

Combatica credit: Combatica Combatica launches next-gen VR AI training platform

The Israeli company's virtual reality platform includes 50 AI generated scenarios, seven maps and even situations for operating night vision.

Shekel credit: Shutterstock Vladirina 32 Shekel volatility after US tariffs announcement

The shekel is weakening sharply against the euro, which is gaining following the unveiling of Donald Trump's tariffs plan.

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich credit: Noam Moskovitz Knesset Spokesperson Treasury assesses potential damage to Israel's US exports

Israel will be charged a higher tariff on its exports to the US - its biggest export customer - than Turkey and the UAE.

Iranian flag credit: Shutterstock Why inflation haunts Iran

With a month-on-month increase of 3.3% and an annual rate of 37.1%, inflation reflects the struggles of millions of Iranians.

APM merges with lawyers from Doron, Tikotzky Kantor, Gutman credit: Eyal Merilos APM merges with 12 lawyers from Doron, Tikotzky Kantor, Gutman

With the addition of these 12 lawyers, Amit Pollak Matalon & Co. will now have 135 lawyers.

US President Donald Trump credit: Reuters Sipa USA Israel on list as Trump unveils tariffs

Relatively low reciprocal tariffs will be imposed on Israeli goods sold in the US.

Deflated unicorn credit: Shutterstock Big Tech 50 reports more huge falls in startup valuations

Israeli R&D partnership Big Tech 50 reports that an investment of $2 million in Orcam made in 2021, shrank to just $31,000 at the end of 2024.

NextFerm technologies based on yeast credit: NextFerm Food-tech co NextFerm suspends operations

The company, which produces food ingredients in yeast without genetic engineering, cannot pay its debts and is seeking a buyer.

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich credit: Shlomi Yosef OECD sees recovery in growth but high inflation

The OECD Israel Economic Survey 2025 recommends that the Israeli government take several restraining measures, in order to exit the economic storm created by the war.

Dano Ben-Hur credit: Dror Sithakol Statisticians contradict BoI on impact of housing finance deals

The Central Bureau of Statistics insists the impact of 20/80 buy now pay later financing deals on the real estate market and housing prices is minimal.

Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron  credit: Government Press Office Debt fears top Bank of Israel's concerns

Most unusually, Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron's press conference last week did not focus on inflation and the impending interest rate decision.

US President Donald Trump  credit: Reuters/Leah Millis Israel moves to avoid Trump's tariffs axe

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich has signed an order canceling all tariffs on imports from the US. The impact will mostly be on agricultural produce.

Forbes Rich List credit: Shutterstock Maslowski Marcin Wiz founders ranked in Forbes 2025 Rich List

There are a few dozen Israelis listed in the 2025 Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List including Wiz founders Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik and Ami Luttwak.

SatixFy CEO Nir Barkan credit: Ariel Barkan Canada's MDA Space to buy Israeli satcom co SatixFy

MDA Space will pay $269 million for the Israeli company, including taking on a $76 million debt and a 75% premium on SatixFy's closing price on Nasdaq yesterday.

Raising dollars credit: Shutterstock Israeli startups raised over $1b in March

Israeli privately-held tech companies have raised $2.1 billion in the first three months of 2025, according to IVC-LeumiTech, up 24% from the corresponding quarter of 2024.

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018