The Son of Finance of the Great Age

  Chapter 165 Bottom-building period copper

Naturally, Zhong Shi would not sign this contract. Even though Steinmensen called several times, Zhong Shi did not agree. Stemensen also realized that the trap in his contract was seen through by Zhong Shi. In the end, this matter was over. Of.

At this time, Zhongshi’s investment focus has been placed on the copper futures market, which will be his battlefield throughout the year. In the U.S. Treasury bond futures market, long-term short positions are constantly switching main contracts, because this is a game between two countries , if he rashly mixes in it, if he is not careful, he may be smashed to pieces.

  …

London, Financial City, in an office building not far from the Metal Exchange, the 25th floor just happens to have a panoramic view of the Thames River not far away. This height is not too high in the financial city full of tall buildings, but It's not too low, and when the weather is clear, you can see the surrounding scenery clearly for twenty or thirty miles, but such weather conditions are rare.

This day was March 31, 1994, Thursday. It happened to be a sunny day. The blue sky was as clear as blue. From afar, there was a long siren on the Thames River. Looking down from the upstairs, you can see a square-sized car. Back and forth on the cobweb-like road, it was another busy day.

  Tainan Binzhong stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching all this, he couldn't help but feel in control of everything. He has a typical oriental face, slightly short stature, narrow eyes, and a pair of big wide-frame gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his short nose.

It is such an ordinary face that can no longer be ordinary, but it controls most of the trading volume in the London copper futures market, especially in the on-site and telephone markets, and even his peers respectfully call him "Mr. Five Percent", Meaning he and his team control 5% of the global copper trading volume.

  Hamaka Tainan belongs to the Non-ferrous Financial Trading Department of the Japanese Sumitomo Foundation stationed in London. He is the Minister and Chief Trader of the Trading Department. He was 46 years old this year, but he has been in the international copper market for 23 years. Since he joined Sumitomo Corporation at the age of 22, he has started trading in copper. At the end of the 1970s, he came to London to do tin and nickel. Soon in 1983, his trading volume reached 10,000 tons per year, that is, 400 futures contracts. By the end of the 1980s, he had become a big player in the market.

"Dang...dang..." When Big Ben rang thirteen times in a row in the distance, Hamanaka Tainan's office door was knocked lightly a few times, and then a young face came in. Standing outside the floor-to-ceiling window and looking at the scenery, Hamanaka Tainan bowed ninety degrees, and then said: "Minister, the second phase of bidding has ended, and the settlement price of copper is 1,896 US dollars."

LME's on-site trading is that on-site traders call prices on the site. There are two trading sessions in the morning. The trading time of copper is 12:00 and 12:30 respectively. Each trading session lasts for five minutes, and the price formed in the second trading session It is generally regarded as the spot price, so it has attracted the attention of all parties.

Due to the LME's special trading system, the trading volume on the floor is not considered large, and the 24-hour non-stop telephone market is the main market. Investors in copper trading are very concerned about this price.

   "Hmm..." Binzhong Tainan snorted noncommittally, and then said slowly: "What's happening in the market recently?"

  As the main bulls in the market, they must pay close attention to the daily market trends.

"Recently, the contracts that are close to delivery have a tendency to increase, but there are not many, because both parties to the transaction have flattened their positions as the delivery is approaching. Now the contracts that are close to delivery are only a few or dozens of lots per day. Through research, we found that , LME inventories tend to decrease during this period, it may be that someone is storing spot goods.”

   "In addition to this, the economic data for the first quarter of the United States is about to come out. Judging from the data released in the previous months, the U.S. economy is growing rapidly, which is likely to drive the U.S. housing start rate..."

   "In addition, the price of crude oil has risen rapidly during this period. The price of crude oil on nymex rushed to $15 yesterday, setting a new high since the German metal went bankrupt..."

  The factors mentioned by the young man are all factors that greatly affect the copper price. Among them, the inventory of LME is announced daily to reflect the inventory situation to the market for the next day's market reference. The consumption of the United States, Japan and other countries accounts for a large proportion of global copper production, especially the copper used in pipelines in the construction industry. Therefore, the housing operating rate in the United States has also become an important factor affecting the world copper price.

  As for the connection between crude oil prices and copper prices, it is precisely because these two are internationally important raw materials, and the demand between them also reflects the good or bad of the economy, so there is a positive correlation between the two to a certain extent. Due to the special system of the copper market, the reaction of the copper price is slightly slower than that of the oil market, so the crude oil price is also closely watched by copper investors.

"What's the reason? Is it the result of the liquidation of those positions in German Metal? Or is it because of fundamental reasons?" Yasuo Hamaka's body was shocked, and then he turned around and looked sharply at the man standing by the door. young people before.

"This..." The young man thought for a while, and said with some uncertainty: "I asked the people in the crude oil trading department, and their opinion was that the short sellers who suppressed German metals withdrew from the market, causing the bulls to rebound. There is no possibility for the market to go up in reverse if interest rates are raised again.”

Binzhong Tainan walked to the large desk, lay down on the comfortable sofa chair, waved his hand to signal the young man to go out, waited for the young man to gently close the door, then picked up the phone and dialed After dialing a number, he said in a low voice in Japanese: "President, there has been a wave of price in the copper market recently, and I need a lot of copper."

Hamanaka Tainan, who has been working hard in the market for a long time, has keenly discovered the market from a few messages from young people. This can be seen from the recent two consecutive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, so he intends to manipulate the copper market again a handful. He has played this trick many times, and it is precisely because of the continuous supply of cash copper from Sumitomo Corporation that he can manipulate the market unscrupulously.

"Hamanaka-san, are you sure?" An old voice came from the phone, the tone of his voice seemed to be questioning, but in fact it was just a routine. Selling a lot of copper made Sumitomo Corporation, a copper exporter, earn several times more profit than selling at the current price.

Japanese traders stationed in London are usually replaced every three to five years, and Hamanaka Tainan has been able to stay in London for decades, and has already won the trust of the senior management of the Japanese headquarters. This is not only a private relationship, but more importantly His record in the market.

   "Sure!" Tainan Binzhong said firmly, "I need 50,000 tons of electrolytic copper that meets LME specifications. I may need more in the future. The specific amount depends on the situation."

"Okay. Binnaka-san, I'll report to the group headquarters now." After a long silence on the phone, he simply agreed, and then the voice rang again: "Hinaka-san, I heard that London has warned you, What the **** is going on here?"

Bin Zhongtai's heart tightened, and he smiled and said, "This is their usual tactic. First, they make a reverse match with me in the market, and then let it out that I have violated the rules, and even been investigated by the exchange. , and finally suppressed the copper price, making their short positions profitable. At the end of last year, the exchange announced that it was concerned about the size of my positions. This is an unspoken rule in the industry. As long as I have the ability to balance If it is dropped or delivered, they have nothing to say."

"Is that so? Well then, I will help you with the copper matter as soon as possible. Binaka-san, I will help you suppress the investigation matter. You must pay attention to this aspect." After saying a few words that are not painful Finally, the phone over there finally hung up.

Binzhong Tainan breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that there was a beep on the other end of the phone. He was well aware of some "rumors" about him in the market, and knew that some of them were fundamentally true, such as his I once asked a certain brokerage company to provide proof of false transactions, but as the saying goes, the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and the Japanese side can't let go of the huge profits contributed by the non-ferrous financial trading department every year, which prevented the incident from breaking out.

  …

Almost on the same day, Zhong Shi in the United States also had a phone call with Andrew in London: "Andrew, how is the copper acquisition over there?" Buying a copper futures contract that expires in March did not close the position two trading days before the expiration, but chose to deliver.

   "A total of 500 contracts have been acquired, with an average price of 1885 US dollars, and 23.56 million US dollars have been spent." Andrew sighed on the phone. He really didn't understand why Zhong Shi thought of carrying out physical delivery, which undoubtedly cost them a lot of money, and at the same time, the copper delivered would occupy a lot of space.

  According to Zhongshi's arrangement, Andrew has already rented a warehouse in London that can accommodate 100,000 tons of copper. The lease lasts for one year and costs a full 200,000 pounds. Although electrolytic copper has a patina phenomenon due to oxidation reaction, it is still easy to preserve.

"No, this speed is far from enough. You need to increase the speed of absorbing copper in the market. At least 100 million US dollars of copper is enough for us to operate in the market. Do you understand?" Zhong Shi shook his head subconsciously. Immediately remembering that his action was purely superfluous, he couldn't help being a little funny.

   During this period of time, he has been paying attention to the price of copper futures, and the task of absorbing spot copper has been handed over to Andrew. He is most familiar with the situation in London and is naturally the most suitable candidate.

   Today is 30, and it is finally a holiday. I wish everyone a happy New Year of the Horse in advance.

  (end of this chapter)