American Peanuts

Chapter 84 For Whom the Death Bell Tolls
"According to relevant information disclosed by New Century yesterday, due to the impact of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike, the subprime non-performing loan rate has reached as high as 35%, and more than half in some areas. The funding gap currently reaches tens of billions of dollars. Regulators have intervened in the investigation, related The situation requires further disclosure..."

The CNBC news program was inserting an emergency report, and Hadley looked solemn on the screen.

Sol was sitting naked on the sofa, with a large tuft of chest hair on his chest, which looked like a thick carpet sticking to his body. The metal necklace around his neck was very conspicuous.

He had a cigarette in his mouth, and the rising smoke made his eyes narrow.

"Have you seen this woman? I've chatted with her, and I even have her phone number." Saul pointed at Hadley on the TV and said with some air.

The woman on the side was counting banknotes and didn't pay attention to what Sol said.

"Hey, I'm talking to you," Thor complained.

"Sorry, there's an extra charge. I can be a teacher, a mother, a daughter, a neighbor, whatever you want."

"Then can you become a XXX? Baby."

"of course."

The woman stretched her head and held a few bills held by Sol's fingertips in her mouth.

After a few minutes……

Sol was interrupted by the sudden ringing of the phone.

"F**k." Sol opened his eyes, only feeling that the money was really worthless.

"Hello, I'm Saul, what's wrong?" Saul replied patiently.

It was William on the other end of the phone, and his voice sounded unusually irritable.

"Do you know where the boss is? I have searched every corner of the company, but there is no news about him. Those girls also don't know where he is, and his mobile phone cannot be reached." William asked .

"It's very simple, where did he go to play again, please, he is not a three-year-old kid anymore, don't worry about him, he is very busy, there are so many girls who need to be taken care of by him. Understand?" Saul complained.

He remembered that two days ago... Charlie told him that he was going out for a trip, and Sol didn't ask where exactly.

"But why can't he get through on the phone? I'm a little worried about him."

"Brother, listen, imagine he is sunbathing on the beach, and two women around him are applying sunscreen. If it were you, would you be free to answer the phone?" Sol reminded.

·
"Porphyris~"

A little hand cream was squeezed out of the plastic bucket, and the trader spread it evenly on his hands.

"OK, now follow my instructions and start buying CDS and shorting CDO at the same time. I want you to press the phone until it's hot. If I call any of you and the line is not busy, I will throw him out of the window. Do you understand?" John Paulson raised a finger and warned.

After receiving a uniform response from his subordinates, John Paulson returned to the room, but Charlie in the room seemed a little restless.

"Should I do something?" Charlie looked at John Paulson.

"No, you don't have to do anything now. Everything is left to the traders under you. All we need to do is wait and relax. You can learn to be like me." John Paulson said like a magic trick, from the pocket of his suit He took out an iPod and put the headphones into his ears.

"I like to listen to the symphony at this time." Unable to hear the outside world, John Paulson spoke loudly.

On the contrary, Charlie hoped to have something to do at this time. After thinking about it, he asked Gal Gadot, who was waiting outside the door, to go to the Nike store downstairs to buy a pair of $99 running shoes and start running in the park in New York. Doing it can actually make him feel relieved, just like the prototype in the movie The Big Short.

At the same time, although he didn't want to imagine these things again, plans for the next period of time kept popping up in his mind.

Starting today, his hedge fund began to operate two important U.S. real estate futures indexes, CDO and CDS. Two commodities with complementary risks were operated simultaneously. This is equivalent to "double shorting" and is comparable to the operation of the big short prototype. To be more ruthless.

In fact, John Paulson did make the most profit during the financial crisis.

In his expectation, the profit situation in the first few days was not obvious. After all, public opinion was not fermented at this time.But in a few days... when the public realizes that the market is in huge risks, a large number of funds will begin to withdraw, and a stampede will occur.

The more people panic, the more he makes.

That night, John Paulson reported good news to him.

"The situation went as expected. The price of CDO dropped by fifteen points today, and the corresponding CDS surged by 30.00%. It seems that the bankruptcy in the new century has taught many people a lesson, and we have made a lot of money." John Paul Sen said excitedly.

Charlie nodded, but there was no joy on his face.

On the contrary, he was a little panicked, because according to history, those bankers should be working together at this time, especially Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.

Charlie opened Reddit and began to observe the public opinion field.

Today's bankruptcy in the new century and the plunge in real estate futures are being closely discussed in some investment-related forums.

[Now it seems that what Charlie said is right.We are indeed at great risk. 】

[You have to know that he is a man who gambles with his own wealth. When you look at a person, you should not look at what he says, but look at what he is doing. 】

[Sell the financial company and enter the entertainment industry.I saw his photo this afternoon. Guess where he is?New York! 】

[Oh, you have to know that Gisele Bundchen is in New York, so of course Charlie has to take good care of his new love. 】

[She is in Europe, not in New York at all.Charlie didn't come to see her, and you didn't see that Charlie appeared not far from Wall Street.Think about why. 】

[Don’t think about it, he must have ended up too.What are you waiting for?After having a good meal this time, I decided to follow up. 】

[The organization has not yet made a conclusion. The problem in the new century may be just an exception. I think it is not a good time to end now. 】

[There’s nothing wrong with just having fun, but if that happens, you won’t even be able to drink soup. 】

[That's right, if you don't enter the arena at this time, when will you wait?We'll just follow Charlie and drink the soup. 】

Due to Charlie's fame and the prior layout, it can be said that public opinion fermented very quickly.

Charlie looked at Twitter again and looked at more than a dozen other sections. It can be said that the tendencies of public opinion are similar.

Among these veterans of the U.S. stock market, a small number of them are still waiting and watching, some are gearing up and eager to enter the market, and some have already decided to make a big move.

Charlie raised his head at this time and suddenly said to John Paulson:
"We will continue tomorrow, but starting from the day after tomorrow, we have to pause first."

"Why?" John Paulson became more and more puzzled: "Stop playing tomorrow, and then enter the field later. There may be variables. This is shooting yourself in the foot."

"You pay more attention to the economic level, while I pay more attention to the public opinion level..." Charlie shook his head.

"A large number of retail investors are ready to enter the market, let them help me continue to knock down the dominoes."

"Isn't this better? Can we earn more?" John Paulson became more and more confused as he listened. He couldn't figure out what Charlie was thinking.

"Maybe there will be a short squeeze?" Charlie thought for a while and said.

"Short squeeze? Are you kidding me? Do you know how big the real estate futures market is? We won't be enough for ten more. Now I'm starting to wonder, did you really graduate from the University of Pennsylvania?" John Paulson said to Charlie was unprofessionally amused and challenged him.

"Okay, then I'll tell the truth." Seeing that his excuse was seen through, Charlie had no choice but to tell the truth.

"Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns hold a lot of related futures. They are not going to sit still. We may have many potential enemies this time, and they have various privileges. Do you understand what I mean? Someone has to do it for us. Go to Ray."

Charlie originally wanted to rob the rich and the poor, but when he actually stepped onto the poker table, he was a little scared. If the forced liquidation was triggered, all the money he had earned before would disappear, he would also lose the company, and in addition, he would have to bear a huge burden. a debt.

In the final analysis, he is not a financier, he is just a UP owner who knows the future before he knows it.

Therefore, plans must be adjusted.

I will still make a lot of money, but I may have to sacrifice some people...

"How do you know the positions of these two investment banks?" John Paulson became increasingly difficult to understand.

He was previously a director of Bear Stearns and knew that specific position details were impossible to disclose to the outside world.

"In short, I know. If you don't believe it, you can understand by looking at the reactions of some rating agencies in the past two days."

"In addition, in the past two days, we should appear more in some public places, such as high-end clubs. The two of us pretended to be victorious and had a good time, so that the public would realize that we are making a lot of money."

·
"cheers!"

Next to Charlie were a whole row of girls, all beautiful and tall.

On the other side, there was indeed no one around John Paulson, and he seemed a little lonely.

It was just something he asked for. According to Charlie, there must be reporters and the like among the crowd around him. He didn't want his wife to see him having fun in a high-end club in New York.

Outside the seat, Gal Gadot stood there like a door god.

"To be honest, the low electronic music here is almost giving me a heart attack." John Paulson couldn't help but say.

"Don't be like this, you have to pretend to be happy." Charlie continued.

John Paulson forced a smile. To be honest, with the current performance of the fund, he should be very happy.

Calculating the income, the fund has increased by 50.00% in the past three days.This is a horrible result.

But the more this happened, John Paulson seemed a little uneasy.

Especially knowing what might happen next.

Charlie took out his cell phone from the spilled wine on the table. The girl next to him took out a tissue and wiped it with Charlie, then handed the phone back to him.

This time, the investment and financial exchange forums on the Internet have fallen into a carnival, and many people have begun to share their profits. The highest blood profit is 30.00% in one day today, and everyone is still praising Charlie for enjoying the meal.

These people on the forum have made money, and others will naturally continue to follow. Tomorrow and the next two days should be safe, and then they will spend the weekend. After these two days, I believe many people should return to "reason", and At this time, it must be the time for the opponent to take action.

"Starting next week, we will temporarily suspend all operations."

·
"Affected by the financial bankruptcy of the new century, the real estate futures market experienced huge shocks last week. Many experts and scholars said this was irrational market behavior by the general public. Spokespersons from relevant departments announced the results of this week's investigation. New There are huge loopholes in Century Financial's internal review mechanism. Similar problems have not been found in other similar companies... On Friday, many rating agencies raised the ratings of a variety of related financial products and recommended buy instead..."

On the TV, Hadley was broadcasting financial news in an emotional voice.

In the real room, Hadley is playing the flute to Charlie.

"Good girl." Charlie said kindly.Very satisfied with her live performance and continued:

"It's only Saturday and the wind started blowing. It seems they are really anxious."

"That's enough, Charlie, you've made enough," Hadley admonished.

She estimated that Charlie's personal profits alone now amounted to nearly one billion dollars.

"Do you know that more and more people are entering the market now, which makes the situation more complicated, and it also means that the amount of funds is increasing. In other words, I can earn more."

"By the way, are you already the supervisor?" Charlie asked suddenly.

"Yes, dear, I would like to arrange for some female anchors from CNBC to come to you and educate you on financial knowledge?"

"Isn't it too risky?" Charlie blinked.

Hadley smiled: "Aren't you still worried about what I'm doing?"

"It makes sense, I do need some first-hand news channels."

·
Charlie spent the entire day Monday at his New York mansion and did not show up at John Paulson's office.

In the evening, Paulson called Charlie.

"Today, the relevant futures index rose by 50.00%, almost back to the original level, and even rose slightly."

"Great, it gives us more room to maneuver and we can go short again."

"But...how can we still go short like this? It's over."

"No, it's just the beginning."

"What do you know?" This time, John Paulson did not rush to refute, but continued to ask.

Unfortunately, Charlie seemed anxious and hung up the phone directly.

·
"We won big." Peter Lynch came to the office specifically to find Buffett.

"Yeah." Buffett just nodded without any joy.

"Charlie Rossi will probably lose everything."

"Not necessarily. Maybe he leaves early?"

"It's impossible, part of the delivery agreement is T+1, unless he takes action in advance on Friday." Peter Lynch said firmly.

"I think we should call and ask." Buffett was still a little worried.

He had a vague intuition that this young man was different from everyone he had met before.

Buffett called over, and Charlie Rossi on the other end of the phone even cried.

"Sorry, sir, I messed everything up."

"It doesn't matter, you can start over. I'm willing to give you a chance. How about working in my company?"

"...Of course, I'm very happy." Charlie's voice suddenly made a 180-degree turn.

The two hung up the phone one after another.

"Charlie Rossi is safe and sound." Buffett patted the table. He regretted a little and let the words slip.It would be unwise to extend an olive branch to him at this time.

You have created an enemy you shouldn't have set up.

"Peter Lynch, if he continues to short, we will kill him." Buffett said coldly.

Don't make enemies easily. If something unfortunate happens, you should think about how to get rid of the trouble.

·
"The old man plotted against me." Charlie bared his teeth, a little scared.

Fortunately, I ran fast.

Now that he had made enough money, he thought it was time to stop.

Otherwise, he would have to cry for his father and mother.

　Thanks to Jin Taierda and Liu Mengxiyuan for the 500 starting coins, thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)