The investment house that surprised for the better after two difficult years: what did your training fund do in July?

After an especially strong start to the year on the stock exchange, local savers are summarizing two consecutive months of negative returns, as in July, savings bodies presented an average negative return of about 0.5% in training funds (Keren Hishtalmut) within general tracks. However, Israeli savers can still be satisfied, as since the beginning of the year, the general track has presented a positive return of about 5.4%.

In stock tracks, weaker results were recorded, with savers seeing a negative return of 0.5% in July. Despite two weak months, since the beginning of the year, these tracks have yielded a sharp increase of 8.7%. Over the last three years, this represents an impressive and unprecedented jump of 68%.

In the background, the Israeli stock market summarized a mixed month, during which the TA 35 index rose by 2% and the TA 125 index rose by 1.5%. In contrast, the USA saw a mixed trend: the Dow Jones index rose by 0.3%, the S&P 500 traded flat, while the Nasdaq index fell by 3.2%.

However, despite declines in the USA, the track following the American flagship index, the S&P 500, achieved a positive return of 2.2%. This is due to a significant strengthening of the dollar against the shekel, which boosted the index's return in shekel terms by about 3.2%. On an annual basis, this track still shows underperformance relative to the stock and general channels, with an average return of about 4.6% since the beginning of the year.

After two weak years: Yelin Lapidot in the lead

The fact that the strengthening of the shekel influenced foreign investments positively supported bodies with high exposure abroad. Accordingly, the investment house Yelin Lapidot finished the month at the top of the return table in the general track, presenting a zero return while others showed negative returns. This follows years where the house presented weak data relative to competitors, mainly due to a preference for foreign markets that suffered compared to the Israeli market, a trend intensified by the shekel's strength.

Also standing out are the investment house Mor and the insurance company Menora with negative returns of 0.1% and 0.3% respectively. Alongside them, Altshuler Shaham stood out positively with a negative return of 0.4%, below the industry average. Altshuler Shaham, which like Yelin Lapidot suffered in recent years from high exposure to foreign markets, is summarizing a second consecutive month of top-tier performance.

On the other hand, at the bottom of the list in July are insurance companies Harel and Clal, which yielded negative returns of 1.2% and 0.7%. However, both maintain a place at the top of the table since the beginning of the year, with returns of 6.8% for Clal and about 5.8% for Harel. Mor also stands out positively since the beginning of the year in the general track, yielding a positive return of 5.9%.

Stock track performance

In the stock track, Altshuler Shaham and Yelin Lapidot stood out for the better with negative returns of 0.3% and 0.4% respectively, lower than the industry average of -1%. Mor also performed well, presenting a decrease of "only" 0.3%. At the bottom are Harel and Clal with negative returns of 2.1% and 1.5%.

However, in terms of year-to-date returns, the stock track is led by Clal (11.3%) and Harel (9.9%), along with Mor (10.4%). Conversely, despite good recent months, Altshuler Shaham and Yelin Lapidot continue to lag with returns of 6.7% and 7.2% since the beginning of the year, lower than the industry average of 8.7%.

Over a three-year period, Clal leads the table with a jump of 73.6%, followed by Infinity (72.4%), Mor (71.8%), and Meitav (70%). The bottom is occupied by Altshuler Shaham and Yelin Lapidot with returns of 57.4% and 62.9%.