Page 72
Not counting the following weekend, in just three trading days, the S&P 500 once again fell from a high of 328 to 313 like a roller coaster.
at this time.
In the account of Westeros Company, there are still 6000 contracts that are as immobile as a mountain, and the accumulated book profit is close to 6000 million US dollars again.
Faced with this situation, Noah Scott, Nelson Scott and even James Robinson have completely felt at a loss.
What exactly happened?
Did that kid do it on purpose?
What 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 had already expected the violent fluctuations in September, will basically devote himself to this period, except for watching some index rise and fall reports sent back from Chicago every day. On to the final shoot of Pulp Fiction.
Finally, Saturday, September 9.
Since there were only the last few shots left, the crew chose to work overtime on the weekend, and then, that afternoon, the second film directed by Simon after returning to this era was officially completed.
Chapter 120 Collapse
The roller coaster-like index turmoil lasted for more than half a month. On September 9, when the S&P 23 index fell below 500 points, Noah Scott finally received Simon's closing order again. From September 310 to September 9, in three days, the 23 short contracts held by Westeros were cleared at an average of 9 points, and Simon made another profit of 25 million US dollars.
In addition, one month after the release of "Run Lola Run", because the two parties still maintain a close cooperative relationship, Orion Pictures did not deliberately delay, and readily paid Westeros according to the contract a total of 3251 million US dollars at the box office. into.
Therefore, excluding the loan that is no longer ready to be used at all, before the final layout, the total funds owned by Simon have reached 3 million US dollars.
When Noah Scott and others were still wondering about Simon's conservative operating intentions in September, the liquidation ended. All funds are transferred out.
Noah Scott finally realized that whether Simon had discovered Lehman Brothers' intention to follow suit or not, the other party had become wary of them.
Wall Street is not big after all, not to mention that the stock index futures market is still using the trading mode of on-site manual bidding at this time, and the trading order of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on stock index futures is actually very obvious.Therefore, after a little observation and inquiry, Noah Scott basically concluded that Simon had dispersed the funds to several other brokers, and started to build short positions again.
It's just that Simon's "missing" operation in September made Lehman Brothers have doubts about whether to follow up.Moreover, another major client of Lehman Brothers, Quantum Fund, almost at the same time as Simon, started to build a long contract that was completely opposite to Westeros in early October, which aggravated the hesitation of Noah Scott and others.
Although it is not as famous as it was later, George Soros's quantum fund has been established for more than ten years, with an average annual return rate of more than 30%, which still makes him famous on Wall Street.
On one side is a hedge fund boss with outstanding performance, and on the other side is a sudden rise of Hollywood geeks.
The operations of the two are completely opposite.
After some hesitation, James Robinson, who made the decision behind the scenes, still couldn't make up his mind, and just ordered Noah Scott to watch from the sidelines.
5 million US dollars in cash is not to be underestimated for any company in this era. If the funds held by Noah Scott suffer losses, black market operations will be more easily exposed.At that time, James Robinson's position as CEO of American Express will no longer be possible.
Lehman Brothers was stuck on the sidelines, but time never stopped.
In the last fight, Simon let go of his hands and feet completely.
从10月1日起,西蒙暗中重新确定的几家期货经纪商就开始以每天2000份合约的速度大举建仓。与此同时,北美股市在进入10月份之后也开始加速下行,标普500指数在短短两个星期内就再次滑落到了接近280点的低位。
……
Here in Los Angeles.
At the same time that "Pulp Fiction" was finished, "When Harry Met Sally" also officially launched in New York on September 9.
Simon completed the filming of "Pulp Fiction", and he neither immediately invested in the later stage of the film, nor rushed to New York, because the final cut of "Death Comes" was also completed in late September, and the film was released on October 9. There is only one month left in the release schedule.
With the supervision of Amy Pascal, Simon is not worried that Fox will not do his best in the announcement of "Death Comes". However, in order to gain some experience in film distribution for Daenerys Pictures, Simon still personally participated in these at work.
Juggling a lot of work, time inevitably flies by.
These days, Paramount Pictures' drama thriller "Fatal Attraction," starring Michael Douglas, is a surprise box office hit.
Although it was dropped at the end of September, which is also a cemetery-level unpopular schedule, in just four weeks, the box office of "Fatal Attraction" has reached nearly 9 million U.S. dollars, and it has no suspense to become the 5000 film after "Run Lola Run" and "Butterfly". Effect" and "Beverly Cop 1987" is another film expected to exceed 2 million box office in North America.
The box office success of "Fatal Attraction" reminded Simon of Michael Douglas's other more famous film, "Basic Instinct".
After several successful internal test screenings of "Death Comes", Fox began to urge Simon to complete the last script in the original contract as soon as possible.Reminded by "Fatal Attraction", Simon has written the script outline of "Basic Instinct" in recent days.
In a blink of an eye, it was Monday, October 10th.
Inside the mansion in Palisades.
Just after four o'clock in the morning, Simon woke up, and he didn't feel any sleepiness at all.
After waking up, he went directly to the study room next to the master bedroom. Leaning in the large leather chair, Simon did not pick up the phone in a hurry, but looked through the recent trading reports of several futures brokers and the stock market reports of these days. .
10月1日到10月16日,期间12个交易日内,维斯特洛公司一共在标普500指数300点到280点之间建立了2万6700份空头合约,各个账户的持仓量全部都达到惊人的100%。
With all the funds of 3 million U.S. dollars under pressure, even if he has absolute certainty in his heart, Simon will inevitably feel uneasy when things come to an end.
Fortunately.
Some things in memory still happen on time.
Just yesterday, US Treasury Secretary Baker claimed in a TV program that if the Federal Republic of Germany does not lower interest rates, the US will continue to consider devaluing the US dollar.It is obvious that the price of a certain commodity will definitely drop, and the holder will definitely choose to sell it.If the dollar continues to depreciate, it will naturally prompt the flight of capital.
Prior to Friday, North American stock markets had already shown signs of collapse. On October 10, the Dow Jones Index fell from 16 points in August to 8 points. The worsening trade and financial deficits in the third quarter of the United States already made the North American stock market look precarious.
Baker's completely inappropriate remarks on the TV show were the straw that was thrown on the camel's back.
Simon believes that many things never happen for no reason.Therefore, Baker's speech on the TV program yesterday and the subsequent hype in the media naturally reminded him of the level of conspiracy theory.
Of course, these things have nothing to do with him.
Even if the U.S. economy returns to the Great Depression era, he will not feel much.
The opening time of the New York Stock Exchange is 9:30 Eastern, and the opening time of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is 8:30 Central Time, which is actually synchronized with the New York Stock Exchange.
As for Los Angeles, Simon only has to wait until 6:30.
However, just after 6 o'clock, the three telephones that Simon specially installed in the study these days rang one after another.
Although the prescribed trading time is half an o'clock, in fact, floor trading on the New York and Chicago trading floors often begins before the market opens.
Before raising the funds from Lehman Brothers, Simon secretly opened stock index futures accounts with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and First Boston, three investment banks with futures brokerage businesses.
In fact, Simon is still ignorant of Lehman Brothers' previous covert follow-up, but he also believes that the other party must have noticed his actions during this time.However, things have reached the current point, and Simon doesn't care too much.
If Lehman Brothers follows suit, at most it will add some resistance to Westeros' liquidation in the next few days.However, Simon did not believe that Lehman Brothers would easily expose the previous transaction records of Westeros to other investment banks, prompting several companies such as Goldman Sachs to follow him to build positions.
The competition on Wall Street is very fierce. Once Lehman Brothers does this, competitors like Goldman Sachs will never mind dragging fishermen into the water while eating the "bait" thrown by Lehman Brothers.
Traders from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and First Boston successively told Simon on the phone that there were still more than 20 minutes before the opening of the market, and there were already a large number of long contract sales on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the lowest quotation even reached 253 points , Compared with 281 points at the close of last Friday, it plunged 28 points, or nearly 10%.
For Simon's initial transaction, he waited for a full month and a half before the S&P 500 rose from 270 to 290.
Now, just one weekend later, and just before the opening bell, the S&P 500 is down 28 points.Even if he was thousands of miles away, Simon could still imagine what kind of dark clouds would be in the halls of the New York Stock Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange at this time.
Janet didn't know when she walked in, still wearing suspender pajamas and barefoot.However, this time, the woman is not like the lazy kitten in the past. Her eyes are shining, and she no longer leans into Simon's arms. She quietly pulls a chair and sits opposite the desk, listening to Simon's non-stop conversation with Chicago. While on the phone.
Although the quotation has fallen by 28 points, exceeding any round of operations in the previous few times, Simon still very decisively rejected the trader's suggestion to close the position.
After answering and making three calls in a row, Simon put down the receiver. Janet blinked her eyes and asked with a certain degree of uncertainty in her expression, "How much is it?"
"It has fallen to 253 points."
As Simon said, he picked up the remote control and turned on the TV that had just been installed in the study in the past few days. The chaotic scene in the New York Stock Exchange appeared directly on the screen, and the host almost trembled. commentary.
According to the words of the host, starting at 9:[-] a.m. Eastern Time, the New York Stock Exchange has also piled up a large number of stock selling in just ten minutes.
After quietly listening to the report on the TV screen for a while, Janet turned her head to look at Simon, with a little excitement in her expression that was obviously afraid of chaos in the world, and said in a low voice: "Hey, dear, you think you will fall?" How many?"
Simon looked at Janet's appearance and wanted to pinch the woman's nose, but he just shook his head and said, "It's so messy, how could I know."
Janet's eyes flickered a few times, her lips curled, but she didn't ask any more questions.
Although it is clear that Janet must have faintly noticed something, it is absolutely impossible for Simon to admit it positively no matter what.This is not to say that he doesn't trust Janet enough, but that his own experience is too unbelievable, and Simon simply cannot deal with the consequences of certain things being exposed.
On the TV screen, in the chaotic scene of continuous switching between major exchanges, the last ten minutes passed quickly.
At 6:30 a.m. Los Angeles time, the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange opened simultaneously.
In New York, the Dow dropped 67 points at the open and then began to plummet.
The situation inside the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is even more shocking.
The S&P 500 index jumped directly after the opening, and plummeted from 281 points at the close of last week to 198 points, a horrific 29% drop.
The average opening point of short contracts held by Westeros is around 290 points.
按照标普500指数198点的最低值,西蒙持有的空头合约每一份就已经产生4万5000美元的账面收益,相对于平均1万4500美元的保证金,利润率超过300%。
Of course, Simon didn't expect to be able to close his position at the lowest value of 198 points.
Since the stock index futures market does not adopt a daily debt-free settlement system at this time, as long as sufficient margin can be added before the transaction tomorrow, most of the wrongly pressed long contracts will not be forcibly liquidated.Therefore, only those who have no reserve chips at all will choose to cut their flesh and leave the market. The number of liquidation of short contracts today must be much lower than usual.
Therefore, Simon just locked the closing range between 200 points and 210 points.
Even if it is calculated based on 210 points, the short contract held by Westeros can still make a single profit of 4 US dollars, which is enough.
Moreover, while closing the short position, Simon did not hesitate to open a long contract again at the same 200 to 210 points.
October 1987, 10 was undoubtedly a long day for many people.
While Simon kept answering and calling, he felt that the day was ending quickly.
It was just after noon in Los Angeles when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange officially closed.
According to statistics, of the 2 short contracts in the account of Westeros Company, only 6700 contracts were closed in one trading day, and 8300 contracts remained in the account waiting to be processed. In addition, Westeros The number of long contracts that the company re-opened positions between 1 and 8500 also reached 200.
In the final phone conversation, Morgan Stanley's trader obviously had regret in his tone, implying that Simon was too greedy.If Simon could set the liquidation upper limit higher, Westeros might liquidate more than half of its positions today.
Now, once the federal government intervenes to rescue the market, perhaps only tomorrow, the S&P 500 index may rebound sharply, and Simon will completely miss such an opportunity to make more profits.
However, Simon didn't care too much about the trader's regrets.
As long as things don't change too much, he still has at least two more days.
Chapter 121 I regret it
"As of yesterday's close, the Dow Jones index fell 508 points, and the federal stock market lost $5030 billion as a whole."
"Is 1987 the same as 1929?"
"The panic continued to spread, and SEC officials urgently clarified: there is no plan to temporarily close the stock exchange."
"James Baker should take the blame for his inappropriate remarks and resign."
"CME Group's S&P 500 Index futures have a floating loss of US$35.2 billion, and there is huge pressure on margin calls."
"The Federal Reserve held an emergency meeting and asked major banks to provide sufficient funds and credit for exchanges to avoid transaction defaults and aggravate the market crisis."
"Chicago Mercantile Exchange Chairman Leo Melamed issued a statement: CME Settlement Bank has received a total of $37 billion in margin calls, and the exchange will open normally at 8:30 central time."
"..."
"..."
The plummeting curve that is almost exactly the same as that in 1929 has kept countless people up all night.
The stock market crash in 1929 caused a series of serious chain reactions such as bank failures, factory closures, and farm desertification, which once caused nearly one-third of the entire US population to lose any income.At its worst, food shortages even led to nationwide malnutrition.
From 1929 to 1933, in just four years, the number of deaths in the United States reached 700 million, equivalent to 7% of the total population of [-] million in the United States at that time, and the death rate far exceeded the average level in normal years.
Now in 1987, the group of people standing at the top of the American pyramid basically still have deep memories of the Great Depression era.Therefore, in just one day, the federal government quickly launched a series of bailout plans regardless of cost.
In the early morning of October 10th, Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who had just taken office for more than a month, decisively "opened the floodgates", directly announcing that the federal benchmark interest rate will be greatly reduced by 20 percentage points, and that major banks in North America will be provided with bond purchases. Provided a $0.75 billion cash reserve.
Subsequently, from the White House to the local banks of various states in the United States, they began to take substantive rescue measures.
Affected by this series of good news, after the market opened on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Index began to rebound, rising from 1738 points at yesterday's close to a high of 2035 points within half an hour.
However, the stock market bubble that has accumulated for five years cannot be immediately remedied by one or two shots.
After a brief rebound, the Dow Jones index took a sharp turn again.
On the other hand, the S&P 500 index, which is closely related to the Dow Jones index, has almost exactly the same trend after the opening bell.
The S&P 500 index closed at 201 points on Monday and opened on Tuesday. It also surged to 245 points within half an hour, and then plummeted again.
……
Los Angeles.