Tel Aviv Investors Watch Global Markets and U.S.-Iran Talks as Trading Week Opens

At the start of the trading week, investors in Tel Aviv are focused mainly on movements in global markets and on the diplomatic talks in Switzerland between the United States and Iran over a final agreement. Reports say the negotiations have made progress toward a possible deal within 60 days. In a joint statement, the mediators, Qatar and Pakistan, said the “Lake Lucerne summit” was held in a positive and constructive atmosphere and that encouraging progress had been made, including the creation of a mechanism for further talks.

In premarket trading, U.S. futures are lower, with the Dow Jones down 0.3%, and both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures down 0.5%. Brent crude is falling 1.4%, while WTI is unchanged. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields are up 4 basis points to 4.49%, and Israeli 10-year bond yields are at 3.77% at the start of the week.

The local market is coming off a weak June. The Tel Aviv 35 index has lost 7% since the beginning of the month, the Tel Aviv 125 is down 7.5%, the banks index has dropped 7.7%, and the insurance index has fallen 14.5%. All sector indexes on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange are down for the month, and investors are hoping the trend will improve before the month ends next Tuesday.

Separately, real estate company Azorim is partnering with Egged Real Estate to build a mixed residential and commercial project above the electric bus parking facility in Beit Shemesh, in a deal worth an estimated 300 million shekels, excluding the land value. The land is historically owned by Egged, and the agreement was signed over the weekend. This is the first project in which Egged Real Estate is working with an external development company on a residential project, and it is Azorim’s first move into Beit Shemesh as it expands its geographic footprint.