Written by: Aaron Katsman | June 4, 2008
Aaron Katsman
IsraelNewsletter.com
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s tough talk on the US Dollar helped support the greenback against the major global currencies, but it caused a minor rally against the Israeli shekel. As a reminder, the shekel has been one of the world’s strongest currencies over the last year, and its strength, while serving as a seal of approval on the state of the Israeli economy, has crushed exporters as well as many Israeli hi-tech’s that sell globally but keep their R&D local, due to the fact that their expense line has increased from the currency differential. (Continue »)
Written by: Aaron Katsman | June 1, 2008
Aaron Katsman
IsraelNewsletter.com
A few weeks ago, Zack Miller and myself were interviewed by CNBC’s Squawk Box. The purpose of the interview was to discuss Israel’s accomplishments over the past 60 years. During the interview, we focused on Israeli companies that are publicly traded in the United States, as well as up-and-coming technologies that could potentially make a global impact over the next two to four years.
Investment Destination
Over the last four years, Israel has become a very popular destination for foreign investors. Global giants like General Electric, Microsoft, IBM and Johnson and Johnson are only a few of the companies that have made large investments in Israel by buying local companies. In fact, Warren Buffet, perhaps the world’s most famous and successful investor, made his largest non-U.S. investment when he purchased Iscar, an Israeli company, for $4.4 billion. Buffett has since referred to the purchase as a “dream investment.” (Continue »)
Written by: Zack Miller | May 27, 2008
U.S. investors have tried for the past few years to access the growth in the Israeli market without a true index vehicle for doing so. The Amidex35 is probably the most accurate vehicle for those looking to get exposure to Israel as a whole. It’s an interesting index, splitting total market cap between Tel Aviv and the U.S (around 60/40). So, you get local Israel exposure with some growth-y tech companies layered in. Kudos
to Amidex’s Cliff Goldstein who shared some time with us on CNBC recently talking about Israeli companies and the market opportunity as a whole. We interviewed Cliff a couple of months ago and it’s worth reading that interview again here. (Continue »)
Written by: Aaron Katsman | May 22, 2008
Aaron Katsman
www.IsraelNewsletter.com
If “Initiative 97″ makes it on the ballot in the fall, citizens of Seattle will be asked to approve a measure that would prohibit the city from investing its pension funds in corporations that benefit from the Iraq war, or companies that provide material support to the Israeli government within the so-called “occupied territories.” The opposition to the initiative is being led by StandWithUs.org. It strikes me as a bit odd that a measure that seems to be intended to protest the U.S. Iraq policy also includes divestment from Israel.
Why the connection?
(Continue »)
