What did the U.S. Federal Reserve’s second-in-command say, causing a sharp late-session selloff in U.S. stocks? OPEC issued a warning, triggering a steep oil price decline; a major corporation laid off 10,000 employees—can even this giant no longer withstand the pressure?

Most major U.S. tech stocks declined: Apple fell 0.95%, Amazon fell 2.28%, Netflix rose 3.15%, Google fell 0.74%, Facebook (Meta) rose 1.06%, and Microsoft fell 2.25%. U.S. airline stocks broadly declined: Boeing fell 2.18%, American Airlines fell 1.34%, Delta Air Lines fell 2.19%, Southwest Airlines fell 1.6%, and United Airlines fell 1.52%. U.S. bank stocks slid across the board: JPMorgan Chase fell 0.92%, Goldman Sachs fell 0.66%, Citigroup fell 2.27%, Morgan Stanley fell 1.0%, Bank of America fell 1.67%, and Wells Fargo fell 1.35%. Most popular U.S.-listed Chinese stocks rose: Miniso surged 29.42%, Dingdong Live Grocery rose 16.1%, Xunlei rose 11.71%, Hutchmed rose 10.91%, Canaan rose 10.04%, Tiger Securities rose 10.02%, Full Truck Alliance rose 9.6%, Tuniu rose 9.5%, and Noah Holdings rose 8.64%. On the downside, TuChe fell 24.29%, Zhongyang Financial Group fell 9.85%, and TuSimple fell 7.55%. Among U.S.-listed Chinese EV stocks, NIO fell 3.11%, XPeng rose 1.77%, and Li Auto fell 5.32%. Europe’s three major stock indices all rose on the 14th. The FTSE 100 index on the London Stock Exchange closed at 7,385.17 points, up 67.13 points (0.92%) from the previous trading day. France’s CAC 40 index closed at 6,609.17 points, up 14.55 points (0.22%). Germany’s DAX index rose 88.44 points (0.62%) to close at 14,313.30 points. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the most actively traded December gold futures contract rose $7.50 to settle at $1,776.90 per ounce, up 0.42% from the prior session. The U.S. Dollar Index rose on the 14th, closing at 106.6590 in the New York foreign exchange market—a gain of 0.34%. Gazprom’s assets seized and divided According to Reuters, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs announced on Monday that it would nationalize gas importer SEFE to prevent its bankruptcy. SEFE was formerly Gazprom’s German subsidiary and has been under German government trusteeship since April this year. Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs stated that this move is necessary to ensure the country’s energy supply, as SEFE faces imminent bankruptcy. A sharp reduction in natural gas imports from Russia has caused the company billions of euros in losses; like other gas importers, SEFE has turned to expensive spot markets elsewhere to procure gas. SEFE is the second company—after Uniper—to be nationalized by Germany amid the energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine conflict. In addition to nationalization, the German government also announced it would increase SEFE’s loan from state-owned development bank KfW from €11.8 billion to €13.8 billion.

German energy giant Uniper was forced to purchase natural gas at high prices, incurring daily losses of €100 million; the government nationalized it. How should we view this measure?

Energy Crisis Intensifies: German Government to Nationalize Gazprom Subsidiary According to media reports, the German government will nationalize the natural gas importer SEFE (Securing Energy for Europe) to avert its bankruptcy. SEFE was formerly Gazprom’s German subsidiary. It holds assets and subsidiaries in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and some regions outside Europe—their operations are vital to European natural gas markets, industry, and households. To secure natural gas supply, the German government took over Gazprom’s German subsidiary in April and renamed it SEFE. A spokesperson for Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs confirmed that negotiations regarding SEFE’s nationalization are underway. Experts believe nationalization is likely—but could take several weeks to finalize. On Wednesday, German energy giant Uniper announced that the German government would acquire the shares held by its parent company, Finnish energy firm Fortum, raising its stake to nearly 99%. This means the German government will formally complete Uniper’s nationalization.

Germany's SEFE Receives Ministry Order to Store 8 TWh of Gas

14 hours ago

German state-owned gas importer SEFE received a government order to increase natural gas storage by 8 terawatt-hours by December 15 amid winter inventory concerns. This marks a shift from market incentives to direct state intervention to secure reserves.

reuters

2026-09-30

Germany's SEFE Receives Ministry Order to Store 8 TWh of Gas

Germany's SEFE Receives Ministry Order to Store 8 TWh of Gas

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