Aaron Katsman IsraelNewsletter.com I posted yesterday about how a strengthening US Dollar could potentially benefit Israeli stocks that trade in the US. I was asked by some readers how come I think that the USD is poised for a rally? The answer…FIFO. FIFO is an accounting term that stands for ‘first in first out.’ With the global economy on the skids, the US was the first country to start having problems and with a vigilant Fed at the wheel, I think the US will return to normal growth in the next 6 months. After all, no recession occurred. The US has had no negative GDP growth quarters, and actually had a surprisingly good 0.9% GDP for Q1. Europe on the other hand, is just starting to show signs of a slowdown. I have heard analysts predicting a potential contraction of over 2% in European growth. That certainly ...

Aaron Katsman IsraelNewsletter.com

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s tough talk on the US Dollar helped support the greenback against the major global currencies, but it caused a minor rally against the Israeli shekel. As a reminder, the shekel has been one of the world’s strongest currencies over the last year, and its strength, while serving as a seal of approval on the state of the Israeli economy, has crushed exporters as well as many Israeli hi-tech’s that sell globally but keep their R&D local, due to the fact that their expense line has increased from the currency differential.

Many local market participants were wondering just how low the dollar could go. While IOI is not calling a bottom, we do think that chances are quite good that we will see a continued dollar appreciation against the shekel. Keep in mind that we have see

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The entire interview with Cliff Goldstein of AMIDEX is part of our new subscription newsletter, Israel Opportunity Investor. You can find out more about the product and the opportunities we cover at www.israelnewsletter.com.

Can you tell us how AMIDEX got started?
Cliff Goldstein: I’m a lawyer by trade. In 1998 I saw some really compelling advances being made by Israeli technology companies. I decided to go to brokerage firms to see if I could find a way to invest in this ingenuity. I was specifically looking for a mutual fund that invested in Israeli companies. There wasn’t anything out there. After speaking directly to brokers, it was also clear to me that brokers themselves weren’t really knowledgeable about what was occurring on the ground in Israel. I then went to Israeli

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