Mediterranean hegemon

[Refreshed at 1 o'clock...If you stay up late, watch it tomorrow morning]

But someone spoke up and successfully exchanged foreign exchange from Contini. Who was it? Adriana!

Contini gave her a limit of 1.2 million US dollars and told her with a smile while filling out the check: "This is your private money. You haven't received last year's dividend yet. You can exchange it with whoever you like, but you will lose money in the future." Don't come crying in front of me..."

This was the CEO's family matter, and Francisco could only pretend that he didn't see that he not only had a father who was a deputy mayor, but also gave birth to a son, and he wanted to give him the face of 1.2 million. Besides, Contini took it out of his own pocket. Vivian had just spent $1.7 million in New York, so he couldn't say anything more.

Apart from this, there is no such simple trick as asking for success to control the exchange army. The facts are obvious here. The foreign exchange demand for normal foreign trade is enough to meet the demand. The current massive increase in foreign exchange demand is completely driven by speculation and is not worthy of recognition.

However, Francisco is also a little worried: Will controlling external rumors in this way be more detrimental to the stability of the lira currency?

Contini nodded: "There is no doubt about it, but we cannot expect to maintain foreign exchange on the one hand and not let others question it on the other. As time goes by, the rumors will subside. Now is a critical moment. I would rather I don’t want to show my cowardice with nothing at the critical moment even if I’m holding foreign exchange in my hand and being attacked.”

July 16 was the last delivery day for the July crude oil contract, but there was not so much crude oil available for delivery on the market. Therefore, there was a frenzy of buying and liquidating, which in turn pushed the price back up a bit, but soon Leo told him that not only the August contract, but now the September contract is falling rapidly.

"Don't they care about the liability for defaulted delivery?"

"No! Persian Oil Company is ready to meet the market's delivery needs, while U.S. crude oil is ready to flood in to meet delivery needs."

"U.S. crude oil?" Contini was stunned for a moment, "It is not profitable to deliver U.S. crude oil. The current market price in the United States is higher than that in Europe, and it has to be shipped back. This is a completely loss-making transaction!"

"But people may not mind the loss of a few cents per barrel here. They will absorb all our foreign exchange and at the same time leave the delivered crude oil with nowhere to put it. This is a big problem!"

"I understand, let them do it." Contini thought for a while, "Be prepared and plan to continue financing from the U.S. market."

"I mentioned it before. The prices offered by several major banks are above 5%, and the quota is not large, only around 500-100 million."

"Okay, let's integrate according to this level, three years!" Contini said, "We must prepare for a rainy day and accumulate some trump cards, otherwise we will be too passive."

"What about the crude oil contract in the market? Continue to make money?"

"Continue to be open to acquisitions in accordance with the reserve regulations, and don't be afraid to spend money..." Contini thought for a while, "The focus is on the August contract. We must find ways to stabilize it and eat as much as we have!"

On July 19, the Jewish consortium responsible for the first wave of attacks was taking stock of its current gains and losses: The United Group has delivered nearly 10 million barrels of crude oil. According to the intelligence they have, the oil storage facility built in Italy can still hold approximately 7 million barrels. , after which there will be no storage capacity. At the same time, the foreign exchange held by United Bank has also consumed at least one-third, and the demand for exchange from outside is still increasing. Since some people have indeed exchanged foreign exchange, and the exchange rate of the lira has been stable, observers believe that United Bank The credit of the group can be trusted...

"We must intensify the attack!" This is their unanimous thought.

"First of all, this US$1.2 billion is the extra foreign exchange this time. I know very well that this is not the norm and will recover soon. But if it is not in our hands, you guess what the Ministry of Finance will do when faced with a squeeze What should I do? Should I pay as required first?”

Francisco shook his head: How is that possible? Whoever has the most power must give it to whom first!

"This inevitably leaves room for rent-seeking, so I have to take it into my own hands and use my own methods to control the flow of foreign exchange. As for interest..." Contini shrugged, "Just think of it as my contribution to the country. , In which year did the United Group not contribute more to the national finance than it paid in taxes?”

After receiving the telegram, Volpi agreed to transfer foreign exchange to Union Bank, but there was an additional condition: Union Bank's liquidity could be increased, but long-term loans were not allowed, otherwise it would be troublesome if it could not be collected back at the end of three months.

As soon as the matter here came to an end, Leo sent another telegram, saying that more than 30 million barrels of oil had been sold, and the price was already around US$1.05. Are you considering entering a purchasing and storage state?

Contini thought for a while: "We have 10 days to arrive in Rome. You can make an announcement and say that United Group will conduct timely purchase and storage. The standard is the next month's contract price for three consecutive trading days, regardless of the opening price, closing price, If the average price is less than $1, we will make an acquisition.”

This was tantamount to putting forward more stringent conditions, but it also gave the market confidence, and oil prices rebounded in the next two days.

On June 14, new news came out that the oil output of Algerian oil fields has exceeded 10,000 tons per day, and the supply next year will definitely exceed 4 million tons. At the same time, the oil output of Libyan oil fields has also exceeded 3,000 tons. It is expected that the total oil production of the two oil fields will exceed 5.5 million tons, nearly 40 million barrels. At the same time, Romanian and Persian oil fields are also increasing production. Market analysts believe that oil prices may stabilize at around $0.9-1 for a long time, and say that the oversupply in the European market may reach 20-30 million barrels.

As soon as this news came out, it immediately attracted great attention from the market. Three days before Contini returned to Rome, oil prices finally struggled to break the $1 mark and barely closed at $1.01 at the end of the day, but it was shaky. As soon as the market opened the next day, oil prices opened directly at $0.99, and then continued to fall, closing at $0.97 at the end of the day. This was the first trading day that met the storage standards.

The news on the second and third days did not change. Although it rebounded to $0.99, it still failed to break the $1 ceiling. According to Leo's observation, there were at least 40,000 orders at $1 that day.

The good news is that Contini finally returned to Rome, and the bad news is that the stockpiling must be started, otherwise the market will question the credibility of the United Group. Now all major newspapers are looking forward to whether the United Group can really keep its promise.

On the evening of his return, the United Group held a press conference. Contini said categorically: "The United Group will conduct open acquisitions. We will soon store crude oil for delivery in July. No matter how much, we will play a role in stabilizing the market. During this period, in order to take the overall situation into consideration, the crude oil from the two oil fields of United Petroleum will not be sold to the outside world for the time being, and will be directly stored..."

"Are they really going to store it?"

"Yes, it doesn't look fake, and he only cares about the near-month contract."

"Then throw it to him..."

"No need to throw it, he will absorb it, you see..."

As the traders wrote furiously, they saw that the operation representative of the United Group directly placed a buy order at 0.97. The first transaction was 20,000 orders representing 20 million barrels of crude oil.

This formation fooled the market, because if all of Europe counted the current supply capacity of United Petroleum, the supply of crude oil would be 20 million barrels per month. Does this mean that the United Group has taken it all? With these 20,000 orders at the bottom, the transactions at the prices of 0.98 and 0.99 above were very active. At 2 p.m., with Leo's order, another 10,000 orders were placed directly at the 0.99 price, eating up all the small fish and shrimps trading nearby.

"It looks like a big deal, keep throwing it to him! Throw the August contract!"

This tug-of-war lasted for 4 days. The United Group sucked away more than 30 million barrels of crude oil contracts, and then entered July. Now the focus of the market has shifted to the August contract, and the August contract delivery period is still 45 days away!

This is a deadline that is prone to accidents.

"The fish has been hooked, and the foreign exchange can be moved here!"

With Jacob's order, on July 6, the lira like a tide began to respond to the rumor-busting call to exchange for the foreign exchange that was originally released: only 4 days later, Volpi asked Francisco for help. The central bank's foreign exchange was less than 40 million US dollars, and asked them to quickly return 1.2 billion US dollars.