Mediterranean hegemon

Just as Wall Street was watching what tricks United Group was preparing to play, Leo, as the assistant to the president and financial director of United Group, participated in the "Ten Years of Reconstruction" United Group's long-term construction bond global joint roadshow, preparing to issue a 10-year bond worth US$2 billion. Long-term bonds with a coupon rate of 7.5% are sold simultaneously globally in the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, the United States and Canada. The total quota is shared globally on a first-come, first-served basis.

The coupon interest and amount were very astonishing. Wall Street, which had just been hit hard, initially had a wait-and-see attitude. Except for United Bank's promotion, other banks and investment institutions were not active, but soon other news made them unable to sit still. Live: French investors are buying on a large scale, the Continis have not returned to Italy, and global bonds have been sold in France for nearly US$200 million.

Although the crisis that began in 1929 was global, Contini knew clearly that it did not happen simultaneously around the world. When the United States had already experienced the first round of collapse, the United Kingdom and Germany were directly affected, but France was still prosperous. At its peak, signs of economic crisis did not appear until the bankruptcy of the Shell Bank in the middle of 1930. Therefore, France thought that the problem was not big and could ignore it. It not only insisted on austerity policy, but also stubbornly maintained the gold standard, trying to replace the European status of the British pound with the gold franc. , this is of course just a dream, but at least when the United Group's long-term bonds were issued, France was still in an investment boom.

Unlike Americans who prefer stocks, the French are naturally fond of lending. I am very happy to see the 10-year 7.5% high-grade bonds, because the United Group has never issued such a high-coupon bond before. This time it finally made France wait. When it arrived, more than 200 million U.S. dollars were sold in just one week. Led by France, Belgian investors who had been following suit also bought nearly 100 million U.S. dollars, the British bought 150 million U.S. dollars, and even German capital bought 100 million U.S. dollars. , the entire European market's digestion capacity for bonds reached nearly 600 million - this is only half a month's digestion capacity.

In fact, the total size of 600 million is not much compared to 2 billion, but daily news reports reflect scenes of European countries rushing to buy joint bonds, which makes Americans ready to move - emotions must be stirred up.

In fact, Wall Street couldn't understand why United Group suddenly issued such a large amount of long-term bonds with relatively high coupons: Why not lend money to Wall Street? As long as you are willing to give 7% interest, isn't it possible to get as much as you want? Of course, 10 years is too long, rolling over three years is fine. But Contini doesn’t want to roll back now, because he knows that there are still four years of economic crisis waiting for Americans. The decline from September to November is just the prelude to the crisis, and it is far from the whole crisis. Americans are suffering. It’s still to come. What should I do if I can’t roll back after three years?

So someone asked DelVecchio, the president of the US branch, to ask for the real reason. …”

The bankers opposite could only laugh and didn't know how to respond: In fact, Wall Street's original intention was very simple, which was to hope that United Group would make concessions elsewhere. Unexpectedly, the president was different from others. Instead of refusing to make concessions, he gritted his teeth. After overcoming the risk of a run, they were even willing to lose 500 million in deposits to keep United Bank. This suddenly created a problem.

"It shows that you don't understand the president, and you haven't even understood how United Bank fell into the hands of United Group..."

Everyone was speechless, but they all found out later.

"It's useless to know. Do you still remember the president's statement? He said he wanted someone from the Fed to resign, step down, and publicly apologize, but none of them have been done."

The other party was surprised: "He still takes this kind of thing seriously?"

"He's not kidding. President, don't look at him who always smiles. In fact, he is a very serious person. He never talks nonsense. Even if you think that the rhetoric of rebuilding the Italian industrial system in ten years is unreliable, I still believe it."

The person on the other side sighed and said, "Okay, so he's taking a gamble?"

"Yes, he is angry!"

"This is so ridiculous..." the bankers shouted, "He is the boss of a very large multinational consortium. How can this be done? Who of those Wall Street tycoons are not smiling on the face but murdering behind the scenes? They are angry about such a trivial matter. It seems a bit...a bit"

"But the problem is that the president is only 26 years old, not 62! You can't judge him with such a calm and mature look." DelVecchio shrugged, "This is a sharp-edged and confident young man who will be the future leader." The successor has never suffered any major setbacks. You guys have exceeded his psychological expectations by playing like this. If you overwhelm him, it won't matter. Maybe he will tolerate it. But you didn't overwhelm him. What does this make him think? ?”

"What now?"

"We can only wait until he gets over his anger or successfully negotiates with Mr. Antonio... If there is one person in the United Group who can persuade the president, it would be Mr. Antonio." DelVecchio smiled, "But I think you I would rather talk to the CEO than him, he is much more meticulous than the CEO, and he is not afraid of trouble. "

The bankers quickly realized the power of Antonio: he never said harsh words, but he did grind with you bit by bit until you lost interest... Anyway, the bonds have started to be sold now, and he is not in a hurry. His most important job now is to work with Leo to acquire bankrupt assets, and by the way, talk to the business community about the 4.4 billion contract.

United Group acquired another US$200 million in assets in the past half month, and the Soviets, who Wall Street was eagerly waiting for, also took action. However, they did not buy new equipment according to Hoover and Rockefeller's ideas, but instead bought a batch of old machine tools. , with a number of more than 400 units, which made the industrial and commercial community almost bite their teeth but had no choice.

In fact, this was a manifestation of the final implementation of the agreement between the Soviet Union and the United Group. In order to deal with the measures of the United Group, the Soviet Union thought of many ways, but it was unable to have the best of both worlds. The anxious Comrade Stalin was forced to consult the defeated Bukhalin again. , listen to what he thinks.

Although Bukharin suffered a severe political defeat, his personal freedom and safety were not in question, and had not yet reached the point of physical destruction. His attitude was very clear: the United Group's so-called 20% discount was of course an extra request for its own interests, but for the Soviet Union For the time being, this is the most ideal channel, and it is recommended to accept it. However, there is one thing. If the Soviet Union takes a fancy to some old American assets, the United Group must provide convenience as much as possible, and at least cannot drive up prices.

Representatives of the United Group readily agreed, but added a supplementary condition: the Soviet Union could not cooperate with Wall Street in raising prices for the 4.4 billion U.S. dollars of industrial orders. If they wanted, they could give the Soviet Union a copy at exactly the same price - everyone joined forces to sell the Americans' Prices have been suppressed, and now the rich ones are the bosses! Comrade Stalin certainly agrees with this. Cooperating with Wall Street to suppress Continini is a mistake - Wall Street is a capitalist who is obsessed with self-destruction. President Ciano is an old friend of the Soviet people, and there is a red carpet when he visits Moscow. and laid flowers with the Young Pioneers.

Besides, the military attache stationed in Italy sent a message saying that the United Group had built a very good and outstanding tank chassis, which could be shown to the Soviet comrades. He also said that the design drawings of the mercenary captain-type light cruiser that the Red Navy had always wanted to obtain were also available. It can be sold. These are the meat and potatoes that Comrade Steel will never forget, so it is clear who to choose to cooperate with.

On December 22, Contini's secret was activated. Livermore led a group of Wall Street professional investors to subscribe for 100 million in long-term bonds, of which Livermore himself subscribed for 20 million, showing that he was a professional investor. 1 status, Joseph Kennedy, who retired not long ago, invested 4 million, and can be considered a very important investor. In fact, Livermore did not buy bonds for the sake of income. What he considered was to diversify his investment and give the president a face - after all, he gave himself 10 million in consulting fees, and he also communicated with him the ideas for subsequent operations. , totally in tune.

Driven by this group of investors, sales in the United States have also improved. Many small and medium-sized banks have seized on the situation where large banks are still hesitating whether to sell on behalf of others, and try their best to promote this bond to their depositors - United Group gave them 0.5%. Sales commission is a relatively high level, so naturally you have to work harder.

By Christmas Eve, two-thirds of the 2 billion long-term bonds had been sold, but United Group did not actually withdraw them. Instead, they transferred them through various channels and then entered United Trust. Now Livermore His performance time began again - this time it was long. He was going to establish a long position of 3 billion US dollars as requested by Contini. The target was firmly locked on the large blue chip stocks in the Dow Jones Index, Livermore's own Positions are also involved simultaneously.

The liquidity of large blue chips is good after all. By the time he established a position of US$700 million, the index was still only 175 points and had only risen a little from the bottom. It seemed that it was still hanging on. Livermore skillfully used the technique of shock to increase positions. A group of followers were lost, and at the same time, those small traders who had been holding on for a long time were shaken out - they were really frightened by the crazy downward trend, and saw that they were about to fall again after the rebound, so they hurriedly surrendered their guns.

Oddly enough, if the stock is plummeting, these investors may still be reluctant to cut their flesh, but if they hit the bottom and then pull up, they will soon hand over their chips, imagining that there will be a second bottom, but Liver Moore knows that the market may have a so-called double dip, and the stocks he operates will not hit the bottom again, but will directly and violently rise. When you dare not believe it, dare not chase it, or are unwilling to chase it, Expand the main rise wave, and when you are finally convinced that the stock has an upward trend and can be bought, you find that the stock will be difficult to buy. The more you cannot buy it, the more you want to buy it, and the higher the price will be. Then the dealer will distribute some good news. Easily raise the stock price, and finally distribute the money at the peak, allowing investors who follow the trend to stand guard at the high level.

This is the mechanism of cutting leeks one crop at a time. By the time everyone says they can buy them, the stocks have already become hot or even overheated... So the leeks always complain that when they buy stocks, they go up as soon as they sell them, and they get caught as soon as they buy them. Repeatedly, some people stare at the pitifully small shares they have and deliberately take action. This is completely a misunderstanding. They do not do independent analysis and will only follow the market hot spots. If you don't take it, who will you take?