The shortened trading week on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (the exchange will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday for Israel's Memorial Day and Independence Day) has opened with plunging prices for pharma stocks, although Friday's rises on Wall Street have to some extent offset the negative trend. The Tel Aviv 25 Index is currently down 0.63%.
The US employment report for April released on Friday indicated 160,000 new jobs added in the US economy during the month, which compared with expectations of about 200,000. The employment figures are one of the main factors taken into account in the US Federal reserve's interest rate decisions. In the first half of Friday's session on Wall Street, stock indices fell, but they recovered as the session wore on.
In Tel Aviv this morning, Teva, which fell nearly 7% in New York on Friday, and opened a negative arbitrage gap of nearly 6%, is currently down 5.62%. Other major pharmaceuticals stocks are also sharply lower: Mylan is down 4.18%, and Perrigo 4.58%. The reason for the declines is the financials released by generic drugs company Endo International, in which it cuts its guidance and said that the generics sector was suffering from downward pressure on prices.
Other stocks in focus are Israel Corporation, which today begins a roadshow for a NIS 750 million debt offering, and gas exploration partnerships, following remarks by Minister of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz that the government will shortly present a softened version of the framework agreement for the development of the Leviathan gas reservoir after the previous version was struck down by the High Court of Justice.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 8, 2016
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