Market Voices: World Bank cuts U.S., global growth forecasts

Seeking Alpha’s daily roundup of statements and remarks that could impact markets, sectors or individual stocks.

-The World Bank now sees the U.S. economy growing by only 1.4% in 2025 amid higher tariffs, down from its January forecast of GDP growth of 2.3%. The economy grew by 2.8% in 2024, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The group also cut its global forecast to GDP growth of 2.3% in 2025, down from its prior estimate of 2.7%. Mexico saw the biggest revision, with its GDP now expected to increase by only 0.2% in 2025, down from the World Bank’s January forecast of 1.5%.

“Only six months ago, a ‘soft landing’ appeared to be in sight: the global economy was stabilizing after an extraordinary string of calamities both natural and man-made over the past few years,” World Bank Chief Economist Indermit Gill said in the report.

“The world economy today is once more running into turbulence. Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep,” Gill added.

-Wells Fargo analysts said they see Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares dropping around 60% from their present level amid weakening sales in the company’s core auto business.

“TSLA fundamentals of the core auto business continue to weaken,” the analysts wrote in a note on Monday, according to CNBC. “May global deliveries are down 23% [year over year]. While ‘order’ pricing on the website appears stable over the [last 12 months], aggressive financing promotions continue to act as price cuts. Risk to Q2 margin remains given lower leverage.”

Wells Fargo has an underweight rating on the stock, with a price target of $120, CNBC added.

– Citigroup (NYSE:C) plans to significantly increase the amount of dollars it sets aside this quarter for potential losses on loans.

“Given the macro environment, etc., cost of credit compared to last quarter, we expect to be up a few hundred million,” said Citigroup’s head of banking, Vis Raghavan, at a Morgan Stanley conference on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.

Raghavan also said he sees Q2 banking fees up in single digits, year-over-year.