Due to the injection of a large amount of funds and Eric's "willful" request, the trader team began to increase the purchase of crude oil futures in the next few days, expanding the original daily investment by more than 30 million US dollars.
As of mid-July, Eric has invested a huge amount of 250 million US dollars in the futures market, because the price of crude oil has been fluctuating up and down in the past two weeks, the money has not increased in value, and Chris is more worried because of this.
Early in the morning on July 16, a piece of news published in the New York Times quickly spread around the world.
In the early morning of July 16th local time, in the early hours of July 16th, US Eastern Time, an elite armored tank division of the Iraqi Republican Guard suddenly assembled at the Iraqi-Kuwait border. Surprising news came out that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein put forward new conditions, not only asking Kuwait to forgive the previous 14 billion US dollars in loans, but also demanding 2.4 billion US dollars in compensation for the "stolen Iraqi oil".
Western countries that have been paying close attention to the situation in the Middle East have not made any response, and the financial market, which is the most sensitive to the market, has begun to fluctuate violently.
On July 16, just another new week, after the opening of several major futures exchanges in the world, the price of crude oil, which had been hovering between ￥▲ and 18 to 20 US dollars per barrel, quickly broke through the 20 US dollar mark, less than two Within hours, it had reached $21. In the following whole day, the price of crude oil did not fall again. At the close of the day, it stayed at a high of $21.4, an increase of 7%.
That night, Jeffrey and his son did not return to Chris's apartment. Instead, they gathered in Eric's hotel suite. Chris didn't because crude oil prices skyrocketed today. Eric was happy that his account had reached a surplus of 175 million US dollars in just one day, but he was even more worried.
The fax machine in the suite buzzed non-stop, and documents came out one after another.
Jeffrey, Chris, and Eric were all silently reading the documents sent from the fax machine, and only Drew was still heartlessly watching TV on the sofa.
"That's all the news I can get in touch with, Eric," Chris said after passing all the documents aside, "You have also seen that almost all military experts believe that this is Iraq's bluff. The outbreak of the war The possibility is very slim. This armored division equipped with Soviet-made T72 tanks is enough to flatten Kuwait. If Iraq wants to invade Kuwait, there is no need to send an ace army like the Republican Guard. An infantry division with ordinary equipment will do. Take Kuwait City. Saddam did it more because he wanted to blackmail more benefits."
"I'm sticking with my original guess."
"Eric, these news will be reported tomorrow, and the corresponding crude oil price will fall again. In order not to lose the money earned today, I suggest to start selling early tomorrow morning. In this way, maybe we can still keep 100 million US dollars left and right profits.”
"No, keep buying. Chris, I feel like the time is getting closer."
Chris glanced at Jeffrey, who didn't understand much of the conversation between the two, and said, "Then, the price of crude oil will definitely fluctuate more violently in the future, and I need sufficient backup margin in the account."
Eric knows that what Chris said is true. Compared with the price change is not too big in the first two weeks of July, with the participation of the Middle East and Western countries, the fluctuation of crude oil prices in the second half of the year will be more violent: "No problem, this You can operate on a case-by-case basis.”
Seeing that Eric was no longer stubborn this time, Chris was relieved.
On July 17, the analysis articles that Eric and others read the night before appeared successively on the pages of major newspapers around the world, and even a senior official of the US Department of Defense publicly agreed that Iraq would never use force against Kuwait in an interview on a TV program. argument. Because of this view, the price of crude oil futures fell back to 20.7 US dollars that day, down 3%.
But in the following week, crude oil prices began to rise slowly again, because after Iraq deployed an elite armored division to the Iraqi-Korean border, instead of stopping, it continued to increase its troops. In less than a week, Iraqi-Korean border has gathered 100,000 Iraqis army.
The Emir, the head of state of Kuwait, finally couldn't sit still, and began to beg the heads of state of the same Arab brother countries to mediate.
On July 22, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited Baghdad to speak on behalf of the Emir of Kuwait. He did not get any promise from Saddam Hussein, and soon left in despair. Afterwards, President Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Front followed closely in Baghdad. After seeing off the guests with warm hospitality, Arafat only asked Arafat to bring a sentence to the Emir. The meaning was simple: pay.
Although up to now, most Western countries still insist that Saddam Hussein will not use force against Kuwait, but in the face of Iraq's aggressiveness, on July 24, the US aircraft carrier fleet stationed in the Persian Gulf and the United Arab Emirates jointly held a joint military exercise.
At this time, the international crude oil price has risen to 23 US dollars, an increase of 15% compared to a week ago, Eric's principal invested in the futures market has also reached 400 million US dollars, and the weekly surplus is as high as 500 million US dollars, such a terrifying The profit is crazy, but Chris has persuaded Eric more than once to stop, because as long as there is a major turning point in the Middle East, the money may be lost again at any time.
The U.S. military exercise in order to deter Iraq seems to have had some effect. On the second day, Saddam urgently summoned the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, April Glass, and Saddam made a solemn promise to the Arab female ambassador. , Iraq will never use force against Kuwait.
When this news came out, it seemed to be a turning point. In the next few days, the price of crude oil began to fall slowly again, and most investment institutions began to be pessimistic about the price of crude oil. No matter how many bought contracts come into the market, they will be digested quickly.
In the last week of the end of July, Eric spent all his principal of US$700 million. Because of the drop in crude oil prices in the last week, the original surplus of US$500 million was depleted.
Because of Eric's strong insistence, he bought the last crude oil futures contract worth up to 20 million US dollars, and Chris almost collapsed on his seat. With a big bet of 700 million US dollars, 10 times leverage, and almost no backup margin, As long as the price of crude oil falls to 2 dollars, 700 million dollars will be wiped out instantly, and if the price of crude oil falls more than 2 dollars, Eric's account will be liquidated, not only will the 700 million dollars be swallowed up by the capital market, Eric will also Will owe futures companies a large amount of money.
At this point, many things must not be hidden from Jeffrey. The old man was frightened by the figure of 700 million US dollars for a long time, but he only sighed.
In Los Angeles, many people in Hollywood are paying attention to Eric's every move. Therefore, the news that the box office of "Ghost Love" exceeded 100 million in three weeks is not so important. A highly controversial movie like "Basic Instinct" is released. After that, not many media took the opportunity to attack Eric because of his status as a screenwriter.
Everyone seems to be waiting, waiting for the arrival of a certain final judgment moment.
Finally, time, the indifferent bitch, twisted her waist and stepped into the August 1990 grid. (To be continued..)