The shekel continues to strengthen against the dollar and against the euro today even after US President Trump's address to the US Congress yesterday in which he committed to keep his election promises on tax cuts and fiscal expansion. In late morning inter-bank trading, the shekel-dollar exchange rate was down 0.48% from yesterday's representative rate at NIS 3.641/$, a new 30 month low, and down 0.95% against the euro at 3.841/€, a new 15-year low.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative rate down 0.544% compared with Monday's rate at NIS 3.659/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate was set down 0.411% at NIS 3.878/€.
In his speech to Congress, President Trump spoke about fiscal expansion mainly through huge investments in infrastructure. He reiterated his pledge to cut taxes and regulation in order to increase America's competitive advantages and attract overseas investment and thus create new jobs.
While Trump said all the things that the markets wanted to hear, there will only be more enthusiasm when the declarations are translated into policy.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 1, 2017
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