UniCredit secured roughly a 48% stake in Commerzbank, moving closer to decisive control in a deal that would reshape European banking consolidation.
Political and geopolitical developments added to market volatility. France’s far‑right leader Marine Le Pen was cleared by courts to run in next year’s presidential election, injecting fresh political uncertainty into Europe. In the Middle East, President Trump ordered strikes on Iranian targets and declared the ceasefire ended; both Washington and Tehran accused the other of violations after three ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, an incident Tehran denied. The U.S. president also said he had rescinded permission for Iran to sell oil — comments that kept energy risk elevated.
Defence cooperation among European powers took a new turn: the UK, France and Germany launched a roughly $50 billion NATO initiative to accelerate development of long‑range strike capabilities without direct U.S. involvement.
In Beijing, the People’s Daily defended EU‑China trade ties against rising protectionist pressures, calling the relationship “fundamentally complementary and mutually beneficial” and pointing to cooperation on climate policy and digital trade.
Markets were pummeled by a tech pullback. Nvidia tumbled about 16%, erasing roughly $1 trillion in market value and leaving the chip giant trading near a 2019‑era valuation of about 20 times earnings — a sharp repricing for a stock that had led the AI rally.
Equities sold off broadly: major European, Japanese and mainland Chinese indexes fell roughly 1.5%–2%, while Hong Kong bucked the trend and rose about 3%. U.S. futures pointed to a weaker open, down about 1%–1.5%. Oil spiked amid Middle East tensions, with Brent crude up about 6% near $79 a barrel.
