Israel's Biggest Shekel Pessimist Sees 6-Year Low Amid Violence
- RBC's Tenengauzer predicts currency will reach 4.2 per dollar
- Economy almost stagnant as violence spreads through country
Palestinian demonstrators carry an injured protester after clashes occurred between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in Gaza on Oct. 14.
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The first forecaster to correctly predict how low the shekel would fall this year now expects Israel’s currency to drop to levels last seen in 2009.
Daniel Tenengauzer, head of foreign-exchange strategy at RBC Capital Markets in New York, says a combination of violence, China’s slowdown and a giant gas discovery in neighboring Egypt will send the shekel tumbling 10 percent by year-end. He says the mix of domestic and international factors reminds him of when he was living in Jerusalem in the early 2000s, and the Palestinian uprising and dot-com crash pushed the currency to a record low.