Mediterranean hegemon

On the second trading day, Contini and Antonio no longer went to the exchange. The box No. 3 where they were now had become the focus of the entire exchange. All traders and brokers saw it that day. Anyone with an IQ of no less than 80 would know that this client was fully confident that day.

So the news spread. Some people speculated that this was a member of the Belgian royal family, some speculated that this was an American banker, and even conspiracy theorists said that this was a descendant of the French Bourbon dynasty. William became the focus of everyone's attention. Wherever he went, people would ask for information and try to get close to him. Finally, he was numbed and vaguely revealed the news: This is a member of a Jewish speculative financial family. I can only say this. If I say more, I will die...

When they heard that he was a Jew and a Jew in charge of financial speculation, everyone immediately realized it and patted William on the shoulder and smiled knowingly. Every time this happened, it was always a good opportunity for the Jews to stir up trouble. Although everyone was very disgusted in their hearts, they had to laugh on the surface: "It's really a Jew, so amazing..."

Of course, William was not talking nonsense. Antonio did have one-sixteenth Jewish ancestry. Although he did not consider himself a Jew, he did what the young master asked him to do when he pretended to be a Jew and contacted William - pretending to be a Jew would not cost him anything, and there were many Jews in Italy, so he could check them all he wanted!

But Antonio soon realized the benefits of pretending to be a Jew. The next day, the mark trading volume in the market increased significantly, and many of the speculators jumping up and down in it were Jews. The legend of Box 3 suddenly calmed down. He thought Contini asked him to pretend to be a Jew in order to keep a low profile and blend in with the crowd to hide his tracks. In fact, Contini was full of bad intentions and was trying his best to be bad! - Only time travelers can understand what the result of linking Jews, especially speculative Jews, with Germany is!

"Master, the first sum of money has arrived... The master sent a telegram saying that he was deeply shocked and asked how you wanted to spend it?"

How could old Ciano not be shocked: when Contini took it away, it was only more than 700,000 US dollars. In just one week, it turned into more than 6 million US dollars. It is said that there are still 12 million US dollars in the account, and the floating profit is more than 2 million US dollars. If the mark really falls below the 10,000 mark, it is not a dream for this surplus to exceed 10 million US dollars.

"How did you get this more than 6 million out? Will you be targeted?"

"No..."

"I'm very curious."

"To put it bluntly, it's very simple. The first step is to split it; the second step is to replace the flow of funds under the capital account with the flow of funds under the trade account; the third step is to separate and send it domestically..."

In order to get the more than 6 million US dollars back to Italy safely and quickly, Antonio thought of many ways, especially the separate and send operation, which dazzled Contini's eyes: the Italian Ministry of Transport was supposed to pay Germany 10% of the vehicle payment, and Antonio paid this amount directly with speculative surplus, and Italy Italy only needs to transfer the lira to Contini's account, which saves foreign exchange for the Ministry of Transport. Italy lacks various resources, and most of the coal is purchased from Germany nearby. The Ministry of Railways uses a large amount of coal. Originally, it had to pay with Mark foreign exchange, but now it can be paid directly with this speculative surplus. Old Ciano only needs to ask the Ministry of Transport to transfer the lira to the designated account...

Through this increase and decrease, a lot of funds are actually exchanged without cross-border flow, and the Ministry of Transport also saves handling fees and exchange losses. Of course, some of the surplus is directly split and remitted, and each transaction will not exceed 300,000 US dollars, which seems much safer. This is still the era of manual and telegraph. In the electronic era when Contini traveled through time, everything is processed by super-high-speed computers. There is no need to take a week to be so troublesome. It can be done in tens of minutes!

"Can I have full control over this money?"

"Of course, the master is still very open-minded. He emphasizes respecting your opinions. After all, you have made so much money. If the future vision meets expectations, his principal and profits can be invested together!"

"I also want to speculate..."

"Master..." Antonio was a little unhappy, but he still advised calmly, "Although speculation makes money quickly, it also loses it quickly. You can't always rely on luck. You have to do some business down to earth, such as setting up factories, opening banks, investing in mines, and even dealing in real estate."

"Well, then I'll change the term and invest."

"Invest in what?"

"I have ideas for banks, factories, mines, railways, and aviation, but my principal is still It is too little... You see, the Mercedes-Benz company we visited these two days, any equipment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Without tens of millions of dollars of investment, it is impossible to build a complete automobile manufacturing company. Moreover, Italy lacks other supporting manufacturers. If I build everything from scratch, it is impossible to make more than 10 million, not to mention that it is impossible to make 10 times more. "Contini smiled, "I still hope to invest in the capital market and buy stocks first."

15 million US dollars in this era can probably build a 25,000-ton dreadnought. It seems to be an astronomical figure for an individual, but it is still not enough for companies of the size of Mercedes-Benz, Krupp, and Fiat.

Hearing the word "buy stocks", Antonio's face looked much better. Although buying stocks is still speculation, after all, there is an entity behind the stocks to support it, which is barely close to "investment".

"How much more do you plan to speculate?"

"I really invest and plan to hold it for a long time... at least 5-6 years. "

"Which stocks in China are you looking at? If you are interested in cars, how about Fiat?"

"I am interested in General Motors."

"General Motors of the United States?" Antonio frowned, "Why buy American stocks? As far as I know, the US stock market is currently falling. It has fallen by at least 20% from the beginning of the year to now. It is basically in a bear market..."

Contini knew that this was the last dormant year before the US stock market soared. Starting from 1924, US stocks will continue to rise without looking back until they finally explode. However, he did not talk about this trend - this kind of speculation routine is too easy to scare the old man, he patiently From the perspective of "long-term investment", "I am optimistic about the future development of the automobile industry. Although the automobile was first invented in Europe, it has only achieved rapid development in the United States. I have investigated the data. This year, the total automobile production of other countries in the world is less than one-fifth of that of the United States. This fully demonstrates the potential of the United States..."

There is no need to say more about the rest. Antonio is not a pedantic person. He quickly understood the logic: buying automobile stocks has great potential. Unfortunately, Fiat is in Italy, and there is not much room for growth. Not to mention Fiat, even Mercedes-Benz will not develop very fast in Germany. The market capacity is here.

"But if you want to buy auto stocks, why not buy Ford?" Antonio said in surprise, "Ford is the current leader of American autos, and their Model T has good sales."

"Just because of good sales, you can't buy Ford's stock - it's not that Ford won't rise, but it won't rise as well as GM." Contini smiled, "First, Ford's current P/E ratio and P/B ratio are higher than GM's. In other words, its operating advantages have been reflected in its stock price, so I don't need to chase high prices; second, the sales of the Model T are good, but Ford will be constrained by this in the future. Product... Don't you think the Model T is increasingly out of line with the aesthetics of the middle class? Uncle Antonio, would you choose a Model T as your means of transportation? "

Antonio closed his eyes and thought for a while, then shook his head slowly: The Model T is too cheap. In order to control costs, the materials and exterior design used are very plain. Not to mention that it has nothing to do with luxury, even plain is a compliment. At least Italians think it is not plain but shabby. Why do the middle class and the rich rarely buy Fiat's 501? It's not luxurious enough. People would rather ride in a slow carriage than such a cheap car.

"I have seen the GM advertising brochure. The newly launched Buick sedan is much more beautiful and has a much higher technological content. Although the price is higher than the Model T, I think the middle class in various countries with bulging pockets will find ways to pursue better products. If sales increase, the cost of Buick cars will drop rapidly - this will cause positive feedback!"

[Readers who have not seen the relevant content after "Iron Cross" 404 can follow the WeChat public account "Moon Shadow Wutong" to obtain the subsequent plot]

Antonio was convinced. This analysis is valid in business logic. He has also seen the promotional brochure of Buick cars. It is indeed much better looking than the Model T. I don't know how attractive it is to Americans, but for Italians, good looks are the first priority. The Model T is really ugly. If it were him, he would definitely not sit in the Model T, but he could consider Buick. Of course, if it was the level of old Ciano, sitting in Buick would not work. It must be at the level of Mercedes-Benz or Rolls-Royce.