- Israeli stocks, as defined by the BlueStar Israel Global Index® (BIGI®), added 8.14% in Q2 2021, outperforming developed international equities by 2.76%, as measured by MSCI EAFE. With a return of 6.87% in the first half of 2021, BIGI still trails MSCI EAFE and MSCI EM by of 2.30% and 0.58%, respectively.
- Israeli technology stocks, as defined by the BlueStar Israel Global Technology Index™ (BIGITech®), returned 7.44% in Q2 2021, trailing the Dow Jones US Tech and S&P Global Tech indexes by 6.45% and 3.06%, respectively. With a 2021 return of 1.69%, BIGITech trails Dow Jones US Tech by 16.14% and S&P Global Tech by 11.16%.
- BIGI underperformed the TA-125 Index of Israeli-listed stocks in Q2 2021 by 0.57%. For the full-year of 2021, BIGI trails the TA-125 by 4.02%.
- The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) has seen an unprecedented number of IPOs so far in 2021. In 2020, there were a record-high 27 companies that went public. So far, through the first half of 2021, there have been 63 IPOs.
- On a global scale, 48 Israeli technology companies went public during the first half of 2021 — 35 on the TASE. Out of the 48 IPOs, 18 were announced during the month of June.
- The flurry of action in the SPAC arena continued for Israeli companies, with 4 deals completed in June and 6 in total during Q2 2021.
- Though Israel is still one of the leaders in the push for Covid-19 vaccinations, the country has appeared to hit a snag, as cases have surged with the country battling the twice-as-contagious delta variant.
- After two long years and four elections, a new government has been formed. Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid have agreed to share Prime Minister duties over the upcoming term — Lapid will assume the role in August 2023 following Bennett’s two years in office.