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CFTC said to probe spike in oil bets before Trump delayed Iran strikes. (00:13) Samsung (SSNLF) faces strike and chip disruption risk as labor talks fail. (02:17) Sony (SONY) raises PlayStation subscription prices. (03:09)
This is an abridged transcript.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is scrutinizing a spike in oil futures trading that happened just before President Trump postponed strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure in March.
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter that more than $800M worth of oil futures were traded in a matter of minutes, right before Trump postponed the strikes on March 23.
The CFTC is looking into whether an insider with prior knowledge of Trump’s decision traded on that information or leaked it to someone who could do so.
At least five firms posted gains of $5M or more on crude futures they traded on March 23, as measured by average prices adjusted for volume, according to trading records viewed by WSJ.
Some of the companies approached by the CFTC said their trading decisions were based on a Semafor report, which was published minutes before Trump’s announcement.
These firms haven’t been accused of wrongdoing but the CFTC is interested in at least three firms as part of its inquiry, but it’s unclear why.
Investment firm Qube Research & Technologies earned about $5M of adjusted gains on those trades, Forza Fund earned around $10M, and TotalEnergies’ (TTE) trading arm Totsa recorded ~$200,000 profit.
Qube COO Stuart Brown declined to comment on any regulatory probes, but told WSJ that the firm’s “investment decisions are model-driven, not a directional trade driven by a specific geopolitical comment/update/outcome.”
TotalEnergies (TTE) said it is “not aware of any CFTC investigation into Totsa’s crude-oil trading activities.” A representative for Metabit Trading, a Chinese firm linked to the Forza Fund, said it hadn’t been contacted by the CFTC.
The regulator is also scrutinizing other suspicious trades regarding Iran-related announcements in April and May, sources told WSJ.
Negotiations between Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) and its largest labor union have collapsed, increasing the likelihood of a strike that could disrupt operations at the world’s biggest memory chipmaker.
A general work stoppage will go ahead on Thursday after company management rejected a mediation proposal that had been accepted by the union, labor leader Choi Seung-ho told reporters in the southern city of Sejong, where the talks were held, as per Bloomberg.
Samsung shares tumbled as much as 4.4% after the decision was announced. The benchmark Kospi slumped as much as 3%.
Samsung said that negotiations failed because of the union’s “excessive” demands, even after the company accepted the majority of the union’s demands including those related to bonuses.
Among the grievances is what the workers call a massive gap in bonus pay with rival chipmaker SK hynix (HXSCL).
Sony (SONY) is raising the price of new subscriptions for PlayStation Plus with the price of a one-month and three-month subscription increasing by 10% to 12%.
Annual subscription prices remain unchanged for the time being.
The company blames the need for an increase on “ongoing market conditions,” which can be attributed to anything from a shortage of RAM to adjacent tariffs and even to increased data storage costs.
Beginning May 20, the cost of a one-month subscription for PlayStation Plus will start at $10.99 and $27.99 for a three-month subscription.
This follows a price hike for the PlayStation 5. On April 2, the price of a PlayStation 5 went up by $100, and the PlayStation 5 Pro by $150. Sony also raised the price of its PlayStation Portal by $50, citing the “continued pressures in the global economic landscape.”
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Meta Platforms begins new round of layoffs affecting ~8,000 employees
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Tesla steps up ‘urgent’ FSD hiring in China amid rollout delays
Catalyst watch:
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Notable events include the Sohn Hong Kong Investment Leaders Conference in Hong Kong, Citigroup’s (C) annual meeting, Amazon’s (AMZN) annual meeting, and the B. Riley Securities Investor Conference.
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Nvidia (NVDA) will hold its earnings conference call at 5pm. Analysts expect the focus on the call will be data center performance, hyperscaler and sovereign AI capex visibility, and management’s commentary on AI compute demand. Options trading implies a 6% share price move for Nvidia after the report drops. Stocks that have been jolted in the past during Nvidia’s update include AMD (AMD), Intel (INTC), Super Micro Computer (SMCI), and Broadcom (AVGO). Major Nvidia suppliers Fabrinet (FN) and Astera Labs (ALAB) will also be on watch.
Stock index futures are higher as traders await Nvidia’s (NVDA) quarterly results.
Crude oil is down 1.6% at $102. Bitcoin is up 0.7% at $77,000. Gold is down 0.1% at $4,481.
The FTSE 100 is down 0.1% and the DAX is little changed.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: CAVA Group (CAVA) +7% – Shares gained after the company reported Q1 revenue growth of 32% to $434.4M, driven by strong same-restaurant sales growth of 9.7% and 92 net new restaurant openings.
Economic calendar:
Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
