Trading in Tel Aviv is expected to open mixed, as dual-listed stocks return from Wall Street with a strong positive arbitrage gap of about 1.1%. Tower Semiconductor is set to jump about 7.3%, Nova about 1.7%, Enlight Renewable Energy about 1.7%, and Teva about 2%. At the same time, U.S. futures are sharply lower after yesterday's tech-led declines, and Asian markets are also weak, with the Nikkei down about 2.5%, Hang Seng 1.6%, Shanghai 0.7% and Kospi 7.5%.
Yesterday, the Tel Aviv market ended mixed, with the TA-35 up 0.1% and the TA-90 down 2%, formally entering correction territory after falling more than 10% from its recent peak. Traders remained focused on U.S.-Iran talks in Switzerland and the implications for Israel. Tamar Fisherman research said, “The market is looking for direction after expectations for a new Middle East collided with reality,” adding that investors need a new catalyst and more time before risks can be judged calmly.
Local selling was led by the defense index, which fell 2.7%, while the consumer index dropped 2.4%. Among the notable losers were Ashtrom, Next Vision, TAT and Elbit Systems, as well as Good Farms, Retailors, Fox and Max Stock. After the close, FIMI sold about 6% of Beit Shemesh Engines for 500 million shekels to Harel, which will become the company’s largest shareholder.
Tower Semiconductor also made market history, overtaking Bank Leumi and, after earlier passing Bank Hapoalim, rising to the second-largest company on the Tel Aviv exchange after Palo Alto Networks. In New York, the Nasdaq fell 1.3% and the S&P 500 0.4%, while SpaceX dropped more than 16% after announcing plans to issue unsecured debt to qualified institutional buyers and use the proceeds to refinance a roughly $20 billion bridge loan, part of its $29 billion debt load. Alphabet was hit by senior departures to Anthropic and OpenAI, and Micron rose on a new supply partnership with Anthropic. Semiconductor shares strengthened overall, with SOXX at a record, and Russell 2000 climbed 0.7% above 3,000 for the first time.
