By: Nick Hathaway | Publish Date: March 26th, 2026
In a trading day marked by relatively modest movement across global markets, negotiations involving the United States and Iran produced only a slight reaction from investors. As covered by Yahoo Finance, stocks rose by just 0.05 percent related to potential diplomatic engagement. Even as officials in Tehran publicly denied that any negotiations were currently taking place.
Today, Market Watch From the Tower will be looking at the impact that the US-Iran War had on the video game market and how the markets remain volatile despite business investors remaining hopeful while the US-Iran conflict rages on. Iran has stated it declined any negotiations with the United States. Lastly, we will go over why, back in February of 2026, how the Vatican catapulted itself into the stock market.
For example, the US-Iran Conflict also has impacted the video game market. This may sound ridiculous to an outsider, but for those unaware, Iran states that, because of their recent attacks on Saudi Arbia, business are wary if the latter will be able to evolve into a cultural hub for the video game industry in the Middle East. Only time will tell. This was reported by Julie Young from the Live Index.
Turning towards positive developments, Oliver Hall of CNBC reported that stocks jumped this Wednesday as investors remain hopeful with the recent announcement of negotiations from the Trump Administration. CNBC reports that “The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 305.43 points, or 0.66%, to end at 46,429.49, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.54% to 6,591.90. The Nasdaq Composite increased 0.77% to 21,929.83.”
Even as traditional markets fluctuate in response to geopolitical developments, another corner of the financial world is drawing attention for a very different reason: the growing presence of faith-guided investing within global markets.
Back on February 12, 2026, as reported by Justin Mccllean from the National Catholic Reporter, global markets were introduced to Catholic Values Index. These were ratified at the behest of the late Pope Francis. Questions remain as to why these indexes launched while the Catholic Church has values such as the sanctity of human life, environmental protection and combating addictions. The parties involved that made this possible are Meta, Amazon, Tesla, and JP Morgan Chase. Along with this, the Vatican-owned bank launched two indexes named the Morningstar IOR US Catholic Principles Index and the Morningstar IOR Eurozone Catholic Principles Index. These indexes, as claimed by the Vatican, are built to follow the best market practices and follow Catholic ethics.
It remains to be seen how the US-Iran conflict will affect these markets. Stay tuned every Thursday here for Nick Hathway’s Market Watch from the Tower.
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