James Robinson showed hesitation when he heard Noah Scott's question.
Simon Westero's previous stock index futures operation, one success may not be a big deal, two consecutive successes can be said to be luck, but three consecutive successes are enough to prove that the young man must have something to rely on.
In this case, if Lehman Brothers follows suit, they will definitely gain unexpected gains. As the CEO of American Express, the parent company of Lehman Brothers, to be able to reach his current position, James Robinson definitely does not lack the spirit of adventure.
However, this behavior is obviously standard insider trading.
American Express bought Lehman Brothers three years ago just to get into the long-planned investment banking field.
Next, if we really follow the trend, once the matter is exposed, Lehman Brothers will definitely be investigated by the SEC (Federal Trade Commission), and the company will also lose a large number of customers.
Most importantly, other Wall Street investment banks will never miss the opportunity to drive American Express, a potentially powerful rival, out of the investment banking field.
but.
In just three and a half months, the principal amount was US$75 million and the net profit exceeded US$200 million. This kind of huge profit is really hard to resist.
You know, as a global financial and travel services company, American Express, with a current market value of more than 13 billion U.S. dollars and more than 50,000 employees, had a net profit of just over 180 million U.S. dollars in the second quarter of 1987.
It is obvious that a young man who is not yet 20 years old has made more than three months of operation in the stock index futures market, and his income has exceeded the quarterly profit of a giant company like American Express in the same period.
After weighing and weighing for several minutes, James Robinson finally failed to resist the temptation of huge profits. He clapped the transaction records of Westeros Company in his hand and said to the Scotts: "I will discuss it with Paul and the others on the board of directors over the weekend. , try to mobilize a sum of funds before next Monday. Neil, you will be responsible for this matter, Noah will handle it, and you two will report directly to me personally. Remember, you must be cautious and cautious, you should all know this The consequences of being exposed."
…
Los Angeles.
In the Palisades mansion, Simon hung up the phone from Noah Scott and leaned back on the leather chair thoughtfully.
Janet had been sitting on the large desk in front of Simon in an inconspicuous manner just now. She was holding several documents from Noah Scott in her hand, dangling her two naked feet and looking through them with interest. .
Seeing Simon hang up the phone, Janet tiptoed over and tapped Simon's leg, saying: "You little bastard, I now believe that it won't take you many years to realize those three wishes."
The thoughts that had not yet gathered together were interrupted. Simon just smiled and held down the woman's naughty little feet on his lap, scratched her soles a few times, and said, "Didn't you believe it before?"
Janet smiled and took back her feet and said: "Of course I believe it. But, I didn't expect you to make such a huge amount of money. Our family, starting from my great-grandfather, has accumulated only a mere Just $2 billion."
Simon said: "But I definitely don't have the ability to push the federal government to cancel the inheritance tax, so your family should be more powerful."
When Simon and Janet's relationship was revealed in the first half of the year, there were reports in newspapers that the Johnston family was pushing for the abolition of inheritance tax in Australia. Being able to affect a country's fundamental tax system truly shows the profound heritage of a family.
Now, although he already has a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars, once Simon's wealth is exposed, he may be more likely to be just a 'fat sheep' in the eyes of many people.
Simon knows this very well.
As a reborn person, it is not too difficult to accumulate wealth.
The simplest way is that Microsoft's current market value is only about $1 billion. Simon spent $200,000 to buy Microsoft stock, held it until 2000, and sold it at the peak of Microsoft's market value of $600 billion. He would immediately become a billionaire.
With the North American property market bubble still at its peak, many middle-class families can probably raise US$200,000 by selling their properties. But they had absolutely no way of knowing that this money would make them billionaires more than a decade later.
But Simon knew.
However, if you just simply grab wealth, even if Simon earns 100 billion US dollars, if he lacks the social influence to match this wealth, he will only be a "fat sheep" with a hundred billion US dollars level. That’s all.
Therefore, Simon is not too complacent about the huge sum of money he has made from the stock index futures market.
Just to get rid of the 'fat sheep' state, he still has a long way to go.
Janet saw Simon fell silent, waited patiently for a moment, and then scratched the man's leg with her foot: "What are you thinking about?"
Simon told the truth: "Fat sheep."
"Haha," Janet laughed and said, "You feel it?"
Simon wondered: "What?"
"Noah," Janet blinked and said, "He is so attentive today, there is obviously something wrong with him."
When Simon heard Janet's reminder, he once again captured some of the thoughts in his mind just after hanging up the phone. He immediately laughed and said: "Three times in a row, US$75 million has increased to 278.56 million. If Lehman Brothers can If you try not to follow up, Wall Street will no longer be Wall Street.”
Janet asked: "Then what are you going to do?"
"As long as Lehman Brothers' operations don't affect our interests, it's okay to let them make some money," Simon said, then shook his head and said, "However, this seems unlikely."
If Lehman Brothers, backed by American Express, follows suit, the amount of funds will definitely exceed the less than $300 million in principal in the Westeros Company account.
If it has been a long-term operation at the moment, it may not be a big deal, and if it is followed up, it will be followed up. But with the stock market crash at the end of October, the situation was definitely different.
In Simon's memory, during the 1987 crash, the U.S. government's bailout measures were very timely and effective, and it only took a week for the North American stock market to stabilize. Moreover, the S&P 500 Index's time at the bottom of around 200 points was even briefer.
The last short contract laid out in the Westeros Company's plan can only obtain the maximum profit by closing the position at the bottom of 200 points. However, the single-day contract throughput of the stock index futures market is ultimately limited.
At that time, if Lehman Brothers also established a large number of short positions, they would definitely be the first to arrange for their own contracts to be closed.
Janet saw Simon lost in thought again and didn't bother.
After thinking for a while, Simon said: "Let's forget about it for now and wait until "Pulp Fiction" is finished."
According to the plan, "Pulp Fiction" will be completed in mid-September, and Simon still has half a month of operation time.
Moreover, the movie is the most important thing to Simon.
To accumulate a lot of wealth, Simon must have considerable power if he wants not to be regarded as a 'fat sheep'.
Hollywood happens to be Simon's chosen base of power. Only if he can acquire this world-class influential film industry base step by step, and add his own accumulated wealth, can Simon truly get rid of his status as a "fat sheep".
Janet was a little puzzled when she heard what Simon said: "We can completely withdraw all the money in the futures account. Then, Noah can find a corner to shed his tears."
"No," Simon shook his head and said with a smile: "Doing this now is completely equivalent to telling them that we plan to change to a futures broker. Wall Street is actually so big, do you think Lehman Brothers can't find us? Where do you open an account?”
Janet thought for a while and said helplessly: "It seems, that is indeed the case."
…
Before you know it, another weekend has passed quickly.
Time has come to September in a blink of an eye.
Over the past two days, under the personal arrangement of American Express CEO James Robinson, Lehman Brothers raised US$500 million in one-time funding, intending to secretly follow the operations of the Westeros Company.
However, what surprised Noah Scott was that compared to the previous three heavy position operations, Simon only successively asked him to establish 6,000 short contracts between 337 and 330 points in the new week, and it was 12 month's short contract.
The bulls turned bears, which is exactly what Noah Scott expected.
However, the short position of 6,000 contracts only occupied 30% of the funds in the Westeros company account, which was far lower than the 80% heavy holding ratio that had been maintained before. The several persons in charge who had originally mobilized a large amount of funds and wanted to follow Simon's operation were completely at a loss for a while.
The 30% position ratio is completely a very conservative long-term position strategy.
The entire Wall Street understood at this time that after the five-year bull market, the North American stock market would inevitably turn downward. Therefore, Westeros Company's position at this time is very much like a finishing act of getting as much soup as you can after eating and drinking.
Could it be.
I was just about to enter the venue and the feast was already over
If it cannot obtain huge profits in the short term, American Express cannot leave a huge sum of US$500 million in a futures account for a long time.
Noah Scott even once wondered if his black market operation was noticed by Simon, so the other party did this. But that doesn't make sense either. If the other party realizes that Lehman Brothers intends to follow suit, they will definitely change brokers.
There is no reason not to make money without making money that can be made.
Amid this hesitation, before the first week of September was over, the North American stock market took a sharp turn. In the following week, the S&P 500 index plunged from over 330 points to around 310 points.
Still a 20 point drop.
With a contract multiplier of $500, the profit and loss figure for a single contract reaches $10,000.
As a result, in just one week, Westeros's book profit from 6,000 short contracts exceeded US$60 million.
However, the paper profits in the Lehman Brothers account were even greater, and Noah Scott built a position exactly twice the size of the Westeros company. After Simon stopped building positions, he couldn't help but buy another 3,000 contracts, which brought the short contract position in Lehman Brothers' account to 15,000.
In just one week, the paper profits in Lehman Brothers' accounts exceeded $150 million.
However, this time, Simon did not issue a sell order.
Compared with Simon's stability, Scott and his son, who were personally responsible for this operation, were completely unable to calm down.
A profit of US$150 million, which is almost equivalent to the quarterly profit of the entire American Express Company. And, most importantly, as direct project leaders and operators, such a profit also means that they will receive huge year-end bonuses.
Moreover, it would be fine if the S&P 500 index kept falling, but as the third Thursday in September, the final delivery day approached, the S&P 500 index, which had plummeted, began to rise again.
The 15,000 contracts held by Lehman Brothers meant that every 1-point increase or decrease in the S&P 500 represented a profit or loss of $7.5 million.
As a result, the S&P 500 index began to rise step by step from 310 points, watching the '7.5 million dollars' disappear. When the S&P 500 index rose back to a high of 320 points, Simon still did not issue any trading orders, including American Express CEO James Including Robinson, all American Express executives who knew about this operation could no longer calm down, and Noah Scott finally began to sell.
But the rally in the S&P 500 index has not stopped.
When Lehman Brothers hurriedly completed the liquidation operation of 15,000 contracts, the S&P 500 Index had risen back to 326 points. Originally earning more than $150 million in profits, Lehman Brothers finally took back only $56 million in profits.
US$56 million is obviously a very considerable profit, but compared with the original book profit of US$150 million, it has shrunk too much after all.
Then, the development of things once again exceeded everyone's expectations at Express Company.
On September 17, the third delivery day of stock index futures in 1987, the S&P 500 index soared to 328 points, but then it did not continue to rise, but began to fall again.
In just three days, like a roller coaster, the S&P 500 index once again fell from a high of 328 points to 313 points.
At this time, there were still 6,000 contracts in the Westeros company's account, and the cumulative book profit was once again close to 60 million US dollars.
Faced with this situation, Noah Scott, Nelson Scott and even James Robinson and others have completely felt at a loss.
So what happened
Did that kid do it on purpose
What else will he do next
Do you want to follow up now
Los Angeles.
Different from the roller coaster mood of Noah Scott and others, Simon, who has already anticipated the violent fluctuations in September, will basically try his best to invest during this period, in addition to reading some index rise and fall reports sent back from Chicago every day. It was the final filming of "Pulp Fiction".
Finally, Saturday, September 19th.
Since there were only the last few shots left, the crew chose to work overtime over the weekend, and then, that afternoon, Simon's second film directed after returning to this era was officially completed.