Phoenix Enters the Mortgage Market as Tel Aviv Awaits a Weak Open

Phoenix is launching a mortgage company to provide home loans to private customers. The new activity will be housed under Gamma Credit, Phoenix’s subsidiary that consolidates the group’s lending operations. The move places Phoenix alongside other Israeli groups already active in the sector through subsidiaries, including Meymanim Direct, Albar, Carasso, Shlomo Sixt, Mikholol and Black Edge.

Tel Aviv stocks are set to open after a rough evening on Wall Street, where technology shares led the declines. The Nasdaq fell 2.2%, the S&P 500 dropped 1.4% and the Dow Jones slipped 0.1%. Among major dual-listed stocks, NICE returns to the local market with a 3% positive arbitrage gap, while chip stocks face negative gaps, with Camtek down 4.4%, Nova down 2.8% and Tower down 2.3%.

Yields are little changed this morning, with the US 10-year Treasury at 4.49% and the Israeli 10-year bond at 3.72% after falling 6 basis points yesterday. Energy shares in Israel are likely to react to mild oil declines, as Brent and WTI are both down 0.8%.

The Tel Aviv exchange closed yesterday slightly lower, with the TA-35 and TA-125 each falling 0.1%. Real estate income-producing stocks led the declines with a 1.2% drop, and construction shares fell 1%. Teva stood out in the TA-35 with a sharp 4.9% gain, while Camtek plunged 10.8% and Nova lost 4.4%.