Harsh Winter Grounded the Stock Market

These days, the stock market is in a downward trend, and market participants view the improvement of conditions with skepticism; analysts believe that a harsh winter has arrived for the stock market, and with further drops in temperature and gas supply cuts to industries, the overall index will register more declines. Economic media have scrutinized this issue, noting that the stock market has experienced four negative days in the trading week. Donyaye Eghtesad reported, 'For six trading days, the range of index fluctuations has not exceeded 0.5 percent.' This newspaper attributes the current winter state of the stock market to political events in Iran and the region, emphasizing that 'stock market transactions indicate that the market is likely not experiencing favorable conditions given the political news and regional tensions.' However, government-supporting media are attempting to link the market's downward trend to other factors and portray a positive outlook for this market. Fars News Agency stated that the index drop is related to re-evaluations, and there is hope that the stock market will stabilize in the last months of the year. In contrast to these government-supporting media efforts, Donyaye Eghtesad has taken a more logical and technical view of the market, stating, 'Given the monthly performance reports, there is no reason for the stock market to thrive.' This newspaper also emphasized that one of the factors for a positive stock market is the reduction of political tensions and improvement in regional conditions with a decrease in verbal conflicts. Accordingly, the newspaper's reporter wrote, 'It seems that the country's rulers have reached the maturity to not take tensions more seriously than they are.' One of Ibrahim Raisi's most important promises during the presidential election was to improve the conditions of the capital market, addressing shareholders. Preventing the market from being managed by decree, eliminating the problem of price controls, and effectively issuing securities to cover small shareholders were among the promises made by Ibrahim Raisi, which experts believe have not been realized. On November 19, 2019, Ali Khamenei encouraged the public to invest in the stock market. The stock market and its targeted changes are one of the ways to cover government budget deficits. The Hamas-Israel war and the 'severe increase in risk' in Iran; Tehran's stock market has crashed, and the dollar has surged again. The flames of the Hamas-Israel war in the Iranian market; car prices have increased, and the dollar has surpassed 53,000 tomans. The stock market's fall and the dollar's rise; protests over the livelihoods of retirees have continued in several cities in Iran. One news agency reported a 20 percent discount from home sellers; the recession is deep and ongoing.