By now, you have seen your Q1 reports;  you may have also seen that April added more pain. When both stock and bond indexes are negative, it is extremely difficult to make money. If there is one clear message I have, it is to be patient. The world certainly seems to be in a messy state and we need to be prepared for volatility for the forseable future. Hopefully some of that volatility will be up and not just down, as investors see good assets being oversold and will start buying again. I have compared our performance to relevant funds of our main big-name competitors (e.g., Blackrock, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and others), and you should draw some comfort from the fact that our model performance is good, in some cases excellent, on a peer-review basis.

It boggles my mind that we have started the third year of living with Covid. Many of us expected it would be more like SARS or MERS and it would have disappeared after a few months. But as we have recently realized, the latest variant surge is another humbling reminder of how unpredictable this thing is. It's ironic that the only constant about Corona so far is that most of the expert predictions about the path of the virus have been wrong. If in March 2020 we knew that we would still be dealing with the virus over 2 years later, with variants, continued lockdowns, travel restrictions, and nearly 5.5m officially deceased, I believe it is safe to say the panic and market consequences would have been even greater.

Throughout the Corona period, we have taken the opportunity to host numerous webinars via Zoom and have found this to be a major positive development for clients.  Our upcoming webinars, in English and Hebrew, will take place on the evening of 11th and 12th of January, to summarize the year 2021 and discuss 2022 Key issues and Outlook. Links to register have been sent to you separately.

It seems my optimism from Q1 2021 Covid number progress in Israel, like many, was too short lived. We hope this finds you well and safe from the latest increase in numbers.

The second quarter of 2021 was less dramatic from a market point of view than the first, however July has been challenging due to China issues, where we do have some exposure (more on that below). Our outlook for the remainder of the year is more cautious than the first part of the year, where the post-Covid growth theme dominated the landscape.

Throughout the Corona period, we have hosted numerous webinars via Zoom and have found this to be a major positive development. We recently held a webinar focused on Q2 2021 and current investment issues and you may follow the link to view it. For those who prefer to read, we will summarize the main points of that webinar here for you.

Our office is buzzing with activity again and it feels like pre-Covid. Restaurants are open, sports events and concerts with crowds are happening, and we are even sitting in traffic jams again… life in Israel is indeed returning to normal.

We are not out of the woods just yet, however with a virus reproduction rate of 0.49 in Israel it seems that the end is in sight. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for the rest of the world. Globally, the reproduction rate is 1.08, which means the virus is still growing 6 months after the announcement of the first vaccine and with over 670 million doses administered. Even in the USA, where the vaccine roll out has been reasonably good for such a large population, the reproduction rate is above 1. This mean that virus issues will continue to plague the world for at least 6 months to a year or more.

Throughout the Corona period, we have hosted numerous webinars via Zoom and have found this to be a major positive consequence. We recently held a webinar focused on Q1 2021 and current investment issues and you may follow the link to view it. For those who prefer to read, we will summarize the main points of that webinar here for you.

In Israel, we feel the mix of fear of growing virus numbers as well as the optimism from the roll out of the vaccine. We hope the vaccine will reach each of you as soon as possible and hope that in time those skeptical towards the side effects will be proved wrong. It's seems that most of our webinar attendees believe COVID will still be with us in 2021 and that most of them will get vaccinated. Let's get Corona behind us!

Throughout Corona period, we have hosted numerous webinars via Zoom and have found this to be a major positive consequence of the virus. We recently held a webinar focused on 2021 key investment themes and you may follow the link to view it. For those who prefer to read, we will summarize the main points of that webinar here for you. During our webinar we asked the attendees to predict what will happen in the main issues discussed. Below you will find some more of the results.