The European Central Bank analyzes the impact of war on inflation and economic growth

The World Bank has stated that if the Middle East conflict leads to a reduction in energy supply and a decline in stock prices, global economic growth this year will be less than half of what it was in 2025. The World Bank predicts that the global economic growth rate will slow down from 0.029 last year to 0.025 this year, which is lower than the forecast of 0.026 in January. The Chief Economist of the World Bank, Indimet Gill, stated that escalating hostilities or disruptions in commodity supply will push up prices, exacerbate inflation, trigger financial pressures, and lower economic growth. If the shipping interruption ends, the World Bank expects the US economy to grow by 0.022 this year. About two-thirds of the global economy will face a slowdown in growth, with developing countries being the most severely affected.

The bank said it is using blockchain technology to connect investors with private company equity through digital depositary receipts. What to know : Citigroup has introduced Digital Depositary Receipts, a blockchain-based product that lets wealthy and institutional investors gain exposure to private company shares through securities issued and held by the bank. The new structure adapts traditional depositary receipts for private markets and records them on blockchain infrastructure run by Swiss operator SIX, with Citi acting as both issuer and custodian. Citi says the product is part of a broader push to tokenize traditional financial assets, and it plans to expand the offering over time, including to public blockchains, as banks develop shared tokenized deposit networks.

The three major US stock indices collectively opened higher, with the S&P 500 index up 0.004, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.0054, and the Nasdaq up 0.005. In terms of large technology stocks, AMD Semiconductor rose 0.0229 and Tesla rose 0.0144. In terms of Chinese concept stocks, Ideal Auto fell 0.011, Bilibili fell 0.0155, Pinduoduo fell 0.02, Ctrip fell 0.022, JD.com fell 0.0228, Alibaba fell 0.0281, and Xiaopeng Group fell 0.031.

At the opening of the US stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 268 points, the Nasdaq rose 131 points, and the S&P 500 index rose 0.4%.

Benjamin Habbel, Chief Commercial Officer of Tether, has resigned and will return to Limestone Capital as Managing Partner after serving for nine months.