Closing Bell
The major U.S. indices closed Thursday's session in the red across the board as volatility in international politics translated to volatility in market trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the session down 0.33%, or 82 points to 24,805, while the Nasdaq fell 0.02%, or 2 points to 7,424, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.2%, down 6 points to 2,728.
Samsonite Tanks on Questions into Accounting Practices
Shares of Samsonite (SMSEY) were down nearly 9% Thursday afternoon after short seller Blue Orca Capital raised questions about the briefcase maker's accounting practices while also saying that the brand is masquerading as a premium luxury player.
Blue Orca, which was launched earlier this month by noted short seller Soren Aandahl, says that the company is just a mid-level brand that suffers from "questionable accounting practices and poor corporate governance."
Samsung CEO Ramesh Tainwala told the Wall Street Journal that Blue Orca's accusations of accounting issues are "factually incorrect, mischievous and malicious."
Uber Reports $2.5 Billion Jump in Q1 Sales
Uber is raising another $600 million in a secondary funding round at a valuation of $62 billion, TechCrunch reported and confirmed with the company Thursday.
The funding round comes after the ride-hailing service released its first quarter financials, which showed net revenues of $2.5 billion yielding a loss of $601 million and a negative EBITDA of $304 million.
"We are off to a terrific start in 2018, with our rides business beating internal plan and continuing to grow at healthy rates, while we significantly reduce our losses and maintain our leadership position around the world," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. "Given the size of the opportunity ahead of us and our goal of making Uber a true mobility platform, we plan to reinvest any over-performance even more aggressively this year, both in our core business as well as in big bets like Uber Eats globally."
Trump Calls Off Singapore Meeting With Kim Jong Un
The thawing U.S./North Korean relationship just got cold again.
U.S. President Donald Trump has canceled a planned trip to Singapore on June 12 to attend a summit that was also to be attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump sent a letter to the North Korean Premier stating that the reason for his reversal was "the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting."
Nuclear-armed North Korea recently said that it could cancel the summit if the U.S. attempts to force it to give up its nuclear arsenal unilaterally.
Tensions between the two countries seemed to be abating in recent weeks with the promise of the Singapore summit and North Korea agreeing to free three U.S. citizens who had been arrested and tortured as spies.
Justice Department to Investigate Bitcoin Price Manipulation
Bitcoin prices dropped below $7,300 Thursday following a Bloomberg report that the U.S. Justice Department is opening a criminal investigation into price inflation.
The investigation is reportedly centered on price-fixing practices such as spoofing or flooding the market with fake orders in order to trick traders into buying or selling.
The federal investigators are working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the investigation, according to Bloomberg sources.
Deutsche Bank Is Slashing 7,000 Jobs
Deutsche Bank (DB) announced that it is overhauling its investment banking business to cut costs by cutting the number of full-time staff members from just over 97,000 to "well below 90,000."
The German bank has been going through changes recently with the ouster of former CEO John Cryan last month. He was replaced by Christian Sewing, a Deutsche Bank lifer.
"We remain committed to our Corporate & Investment Bank and our international presence -- we are unwavering in that," Sewing said Thursday. "However, we must concentrate on what we truly do well."
Premarket
U.S. futures were mixed, but mostly lower ahead of the opening bell Thursday as markets look to build on the momentum from Wednesday's session.
Dow futures were down 0.12%, indicating an open 31 points, S&P futures were falling 0.07%, indicating an open 2 points lower, while Nasdaq futures were flat.
Asian markets were also mixed with the Hang Seng being the lone major index to finish the day in the green, up 0.31%. The Nikkei and Shanghai Composite were down 1.11% and 0.45% respectively.
European markets were also mixed with the CAC 40 rising 0.33%, and the FTSE 100 and DAX falling 0.22% and 0.16% respectively.
