Chapter 72: Turmoil
The entire venue fell silent for a second, which was simply inconceivable at the Zhongye Public Office.
But in the next second, the silence from that one second erupted out doubled.
“Are we going to war again?”
“What? Forced Requisition of supplies?”
“We’re done for, done for.”
The slow reactors were still sighing, while the quick ones turned and rushed toward the Stock Manual Trading Counter, waving the receipts in their hands: “Sell! Sell everything! Fast!”
“The Japanese are going to forced requisition supplies, cotton yarn and grain are the hardest hit, quick, anyone with this stock, sell fast!”
Even the slowest reactors woke up after the reminder.
In an instant, the stagnant crowd all started running, swarming toward the Stock Manual Trading Counter.
No one cared about the truth at this moment, just sell first, preserve the principal, and buy back later if needed.
Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance this was real, the consequence of not selling would be a plummet.
The commotion on the stock side finally caught the attention of the futures people; after hearing a few words about what happened, almost everyone changed their expression.
The bullish ones immediately ran to the futures counter, “Sell! Sell the bullish contracts!”
“Close position! Quick, give me a bearish one, I want to close position!”
The bullish people selling now, except for those who bought today might incur a loss, those who had held contracts early had profits from these few days to cushion, still making money; selling now just locked in the revenue, no loss at all.
As for the bearish people still holding contracts, they burst into hearty laughter, truly delighted laughter.
There were also the cautious ones who didn’t believe the rumors but could read Japanese, especially led by the Japanese stock traders themselves; they immediately went up to verify personally, and after reading, their faces changed drastically as they ran to the counter, shouting loudly to sell contracts.
As they ran, the entire bullish sentiment collapsed directly.
The scene became busy; with frequent price changes, the price tags on the trading blackboard were barely written with chalk by one person before another came up to erase and rewrite the latest quote.
Prices changed every few seconds, leaving the traders with no moment of idle time.
A massive trading volume erupted, generating countless collisions of money; the sudden market trend change forced the people in the upstairs Large Account Room out.
Originally, today should have been just a steady rise, which was easy to predict, so there were only a few people in the Large Account Room now, but fortunately they were there; upon hearing what happened, they quickly joined the battlefield and started closing positions.
The remaining stockbrokers immediately called their familiar associated persons, recounting what happened here and urging them to make a judgment quickly.
Because every ten seconds of hesitation, the price might drop several bucks more.
The associated persons who received the calls, those with capability called Japanese high officials to verify, those without had to operate immediately upon receiving the call.
In the final twenty minutes, the entire trading market was extremely frenzied, with violent fluctuation in the futures market.
The price of one piece of cotton yarn went from today’s peak of 173 bucks directly smashed to 111 bucks.
Three o’clock, close.
“Impossible!”
In Fu Xiao’an’s office.
Fu Xiao’an faced one call after another inquiring; at first, he mockingly said in a mild tone, “You believe this kind of false news? Absolutely impossible, don’t believe it, rest assured.”
Later, he simply vented angrily: “How could there be forced requisition! If the Japanese forced requisition cotton yarn and grain, would I not know? What nonsense do you believe!”
“The Japanese haven’t implemented it yet; before implementation, how would the Japanese notify you? By the time they notify you, would you still have time to sell? The Japanese verified it personally, that secret order is real, not forged!”
Although everyone formed an alliance, pushing up prices required funds and cost, and taking over the sold stocks and contracts required cash redemption.
Don’t think that taking over cotton yarn at 120 or 130 seems much cheaper than the peak price, a full price difference of forty or fifty bucks, but once the Japanese forced requisition is real.
Then cotton yarn and grain become hot potatoes; whoever holds them can’t escape being pulled away by the Japanese at five or ten bucks.
One hundred twenty or thirty directly turns into ten or twenty bucks!
Yes, the Japanese dare not touch foreign merchants, their grain is safe, but they can’t stop the grain merchants in the urban area from selling, or the grain merchants from the Jiangsu production area from selling.
If the inventory from Shanghai and Jiangsu is dumped, they won’t even be able to sell the grain they hold at cost.
These are all the goods they swept up at high prices from the market!
“Then go check my warehouse! See if my goods are still there!” Fu Xiao’an shouted angrily: “The war secret order comes from the Army Ministry, but the war itself requires the Expeditionary Force Headquarters to make mobilization decisions; if Shanghai is really to be forced requisitioned, would I not know? Shut up, I don’t want to hear you talk! One thirteen!”
Slam, Fu Xiao’an hung up the phone in fury.
One, annoyed by the questioning; two, futures prices plummeting, less earnings meant losses, one order with over 60 bucks price difference, he didn’t know how much he lost today.
“Wu Maiding, investigate, find out who’s behind this mischief!”
“Yes.” The summoned secretary Wu Maiding responded first, then reminded: “Mayor, I suspect it’s Gu Yansheng behind this; at this timing, it’s most reasonable for him to counterattack; he wants to create panic to force out the grain.”
“Can’t I guess that?” Fu Xiao’an stood up and paced, saying loudly: “But we still need to check if it’s those concession people behind it!
What if it’s them, secretly selling off contracts at today’s high point, deliberately releasing the news to smash the price down, then tomorrow buy back low, and if I push up again tomorrow, won’t I be taking their position?
I can’t be taken as a sucker, do you think these people are pushovers?”
“Yes, I’ll go investigate right away.”
Fu Xiao’an let out a deep breath; he wasn’t afraid if it was Gu Yansheng behind it, just one false news, he could clarify with a news release tomorrow, but if it was the concession people teaming up to rig the market against him, jumping into that pit would mean bankruptcy.
In the business world, where are there true brothers?
Besides, they were never brothers to begin with, just mutually using each other.
“Hey, connect me to the Gendarmerie Headquarters.” Fu Xiao’an picked up the phone for final verification, shaken by all the urgent calls.
Logically, if there was really something, Commander Matsui of the expeditionary force would definitely telegram him, but what if the order was just issued, and Commander Matsui truly hadn’t had time to inform him.
Asking the Gendarmerie Headquarters would clarify it.
“Hey, this is Fu Xiao’an; there’s a rumor in the city about forced requisition of cotton yarn and grain, is it true? Oh, no order received, right? I knew it was false news, thanks.”
Fu Xiao’an sneered; sure enough, false news.
Patiently waiting, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling.
“Hello.”
Wu Maiding’s voice came through the phone, “Mayor, I asked through a broker at the exchange; indeed, before the forced requisition rumor, someone bought quite a few short positions in cotton yarn futures, almost all taken over at the peak, and a considerable quantity.”
“I knew someone was behind it!” Fu Xiao’an slammed his fist on the table, veins bulging on his clenched fist, “Wanting to profit both ways, very good! Do you know whose person it is?”
Wu Maiding said, “Don’t know; the exchange people said this person is a fresh face.”
“They dare not let me know, definitely one of those ghosts from the concession.”
Fu Xiao’an snorted coldly: “Leave this matter for now; starting tomorrow, send two people to the exchange to follow my friend, have my friend watch the short positions; remember, watch the short positions, not the person; people can change anytime, but short positions will eventually need redemption; when redeeming, identify it, follow him, see exactly whose person he is.
Catch the thief with stolen goods; they’ve stabbed me in the back, I want to see which red guy is behind this mischief.”
“Understood.”
“Hahahaha, made a fortune.”
In a coffee shop in the French Concession, Lu Bowen was extremely pleased.
As for why he ran from the International Settlement to the French Concession, it was because he was afraid his loud laughter would get him beaten; he was the one who made the most money in the entire market today.
“Short positions on 200 packs of cotton yarn, I held exactly short positions on 200 packs of cotton yarn; at today’s closing price, we made twelve thousand silver dollars in just one day!
A full price difference of 60 bucks; before cotton yarn rose, it was only selling for 70 bucks.”
Gu Yansheng smiled and said: “Now you know the power of inside information for stock trading, right?”
Lu Bowen nodded deeply in agreement: “Anyway, without inside information in the future, I absolutely won’t touch futures; this must become a family precept. Hey, what about tomorrow? Close them? I think we’ve made enough; any more would attract attention, especially when redeeming.”
“About enough; give me the orders, I need to pass them to the next moneymaker.”
To get Wu Sibao to take action and offend people, you had to give him motivation for his effort.
