archiveeconomy

Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, a peculiar financial trend has caught the attention of experts and market observers: the strengthening of the shekel against major currencies. Despite the tumultuous Iron Swords operation in Gaza, the representative shekel-dollar exchange rate unexpectedly fell by 0.47% on Friday to NIS 3.5990/$, reaching its lowest level since July. This counterintuitive phenomenon has spurred an in-depth analysis to uncover the intricate factors contributing to the shekel’s apparent resilience.Local factors at playRecent uncertainties surrounding the state budget have raised concerns about fiscal...

At the start of 2023, most economists and Wall Street leaders were convinced that a U.S. recession was imminent. With the Federal Reserve rapidly hiking interest rates to fight inflation, raising borrowing costs for already struggling businesses and consumers nationwide, economic and market forecasts were bleak. Investment banks’ average year-end price target for the S&P 500 fell to just 4,000 as bearish predictions flooded in late last year, implying the blue chip index would rise a mere 4% this year (compared to its roughly 10% average yearly gain since 1957)....