The European Central Bank has issued one of its starkest public warnings in years, cautioning that US President Donald Trump risks triggering a financial crisis through the combination of the Iran war, erratic trade policy, and a withdrawal from multilateral global leadership. The warning came in the ECB's twice-yearly financial stability review, published Wednesday, with outgoing vice president Luis de Guindos writing in his final review before stepping down at the end of May that the Middle East conflict is putting the resilience of the financial system "to the test".

A blockchain-based payment system backed by seven major central banks and 40 large financial institutions has been successfully tested, demonstrating near-instant and cheap settlement of cross-border payments. The project, known as Project Agorá, was spearheaded by the Bank for International Settlements and the International Institute of Finance and involves institutions including JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Visa, UBS and MUFG Bank, alongside central banks from the US, UK, EU, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Mexico. The Bank of Canada is joining for the next phase.

Donald Trump made clear on Wednesday that neither the economic pain of the Iran war nor its political consequences will push him toward a deal with Tehran. Speaking at a cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump said he did not "care" about this year's midterm elections and was unconcerned about surging energy prices, arguing that Americans "understand" the aims of the conflict. "They know that very simply, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I'm doing that for the world, I'm not doing it just for us," he said.

Global markets fell sharply on Friday as investors confronted the possibility that the Middle East conflict is not a short-term oil shock but a lasting inflationary event with real consequences for interest rates. The S&P 500 dropped 1% and the Nasdaq fell 1.4%. More significantly, the 10-year US Treasury yield jumped 0.1 percentage points to 4.56% — its highest level in almost a year — while the 30-year yield rose to 5.1%. The US government sold 30-year debt at a 5% yield this week for the first time since 2007.

US energy group Caturus on Friday announced funding commitments for Commonwealth LNG, a liquefied natural gas export facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, capable of producing 9.5 million tonnes per year. The project has secured $9.75 billion in financing toward a total cost of $13 billion, with equity contributions from Mubadala Energy — a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund — alongside Canada's CPP Investments, BlackRock, Ares Management, and EOC Partners. Caturus itself is backed by US investment group Kimmeridge, whose managing partner Ben Dell chairs the Commonwealth LNG project.