US Stock Market's Three Major Indexes Rebound, Intel's Gain Widens to 5%

On March 18th, as per CoinDesk, BX Digital, a subsidiary of Stuttgart Stock Exchange in Germany, has obtained approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to operate a digital asset trading and settlement platform. It thus becomes the first institution in Switzerland to secure such a license. This Zurich-based enterprise will utilize Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to operate its trading facility, expediting the transaction processes of tokenized financial instruments. BX Digital will make use of the Ethereum blockchain to facilitate direct asset transfers without the necessity of intermediaries like central securities depositories.

On March 18th, the international rating agency Fitch Ratings announced that it has reduced its forecast for US economic growth in 2025 from 2.1% to 1.7%. The US government has launched a global trade war, which is likely to dampen US and global economic growth, raise US inflation, and postpone the Fed's interest rate cuts. The loose fiscal policies of China and Germany are expected to alleviate the impact of the US's increased import tariffs. It is anticipated that the economic growth of the Eurozone this year will be lower than the forecast in the December 2024 Global Economic Outlook (1.2%). It is expected that the tariff impact will lead to a short-term 1-percentage-point increase in inflation in the US, and the Fed is expected to further delay interest rate cuts until the fourth quarter of 2025. (Wall Street News)

On March 18th, as per TheBlock, the analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein have commenced tracking the rating on Coinbase. They have assigned it an "Outperform" rating and set a target price of $310, which is 69% higher than the current price. In a client report released on Tuesday, the analysts stated that despite the concerns of critics regarding Coinbase facing intensified competition and fee pressure, they overlooked the expansion of the total addressable market due to the global crypto market flowing back to the United States. The analysts described this as the "US renaissance." Bernstein anticipates that although Coinbase's market share in the United States is expected to slightly decline to 60% over the next two years and it will reduce the 20% retail price premium to maintain its lead. By the end of 2026, the compound annual growth rate of its trading revenue is projected to reach 34%. The analysts also emphasized Coinbase's other services, such as cryptocurrency st

On March 18th, Google announced that it would acquire the cybersecurity company Wiz for $3.2 billion. Following the acquisition, Wiz will become a part of Google Cloud. Google stated that this acquisition represents a significant investment in two major growth trends of the AI era - cloud security and multicloud capabilities. The purpose is to enhance Google Cloud's competitiveness in the field of cybersecurity. Wiz's products will continue to operate as they usually do and will be accessible on all major cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud.

On March 18th, U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen declared that the foundation of the U.S. economy is robust and there is no justification for a recession. She also refuted the claim of guaranteeing that a recession will not take place, saying, "I can't provide any guarantees." Regarding the upcoming reciprocal tariffs scheduled to be announced on April 2nd, Yellen stated, "I haven't come across the relevant figures yet. This process will involve allocating specific tariffs to each trading partner. In some instances, a country may manage to avoid reciprocal tariffs. Other trading partners may attempt to negotiate for lower tariff levels after being allocated a quota." (FXStreet)

On March 18th, the Sui ecosystem lending protocol Suilend officially made an announcement. It now enables users to access the protocol by using the updated URL.