Before the 10th, the trade fair advertisement published in the newspaper was seen by several merchants. The purpose of the trade fair was to increase the popularity of October Company and Modan Barracks, which was naturally reflected in the advertising copy.
Moreover, after careful consideration, Nan Yi found out that the address of the trade fair was in one of the smaller stadiums of the Luzhniki Stadium. With one company name and two place names together, how could the merchants not understand that this trade fair was sponsored by October Company? They took the newspaper and found Bao Huantou and Nan Yi.
Since he was approached, Nan Yi did not hide anything. He convened a discussion meeting with the merchants, explained the trade fair in detail at the meeting, and proposed a "100-five-year plan" that was difficult for the merchants to accept for a while.
October Company is about to launch the October Mark. Merchants who join the 100-50 plan will have the October Mark sewn on their products. To put it bluntly, Nanyi wants to play OEM and conduct branded operations. The "100-50" means that October Company will take 5% of the sales of the products with the October Mark sewn on them. It is not a profit share, but a sales share. If a merchant sells goods worth 100 US dollars, October Company will take 5 US dollars.
Russia's economy is collapsing now, but it does not mean that there is no wealthy class in Russia. Some of the leather jackets sold wholesale at Modan Barracks are sold in various markets in Moscow or other cities, while others are sent to shopping malls. They are not sold in an upright manner, but are counterfeited to look like a certain brand.
Russia does not have effective "trademark law" and "patent law" provisions, and the protection of brands is not strong. The official level of investigation for counterfeiting other brands is not strict, and there are only private crackdowns from the brand. This kind of crackdown is often not painful and it is difficult to arouse fear from the counterfeiters.
The best-selling products in Russia and Moscow are Chinese leather jackets, but this popularity is based on imitation. The information about what style of leather jackets sells well in shopping malls will be immediately fed back to China. Within a month, the same style of Chinese leather jackets that are ten times cheaper will appear on the market.
For example, the most popular leather jacket recently, the merchants here in Modan Barracks usually sell it at a price between US$100 and US$125, but in GUM, the price of the genuine product is US$1,290. It sells quite well, and even in the off-season, hundreds or even thousands of pieces can be sold every month.
The leather jackets sold in Russian shopping malls mainly come from Turkey and Italy. Nan Yi knows the approximate cost. The price of Chinese leather jackets is less than a fraction of others, and their profits are dozens of times higher. The quality difference is not that big. What is lacking is the brand and sales channels, as well as the business concept.
There are many Chinese businessmen and many similar products in China. Scarcity makes things valuable and this has nothing to do with Chinese products. To put it in a positive light, small profits but quick turnover and winning by quantity are the synonyms of Chinese products. In the eyes of Russian consumers, the impression is that the quality is not good, but the advantage is that they are cheap and can be used as is.
As the old saying goes, Chinese products are like dog meat that cannot be served at banquets and are only suitable for sale in the job-hopping market.
Domestic products and branded goods took two different paths, just like the paths of climb for masters and servants. Branded goods started as small landlords in the countryside, then became small landlords in the town, and then step by step became wealthy gentry. Domestic products started as short-term workers, then became long-term workers, and then became the lackeys of the eighth concubine, climbing up step by step, gritting their teeth, and finally becoming the master's first confidant, and being able to do the good job of cleaning up the master's mess, which is extremely glorious.
It is said that a seventh-rank official and a trusted servant of the prime minister can show off their power when they see a small landlord, and even live a more comfortable life than the small landlord. Hey, this brand is only valued at 1 billion, ha, that one is a little more, only 5 billion. Although I am an OEM, my net worth is 150 billion. Are you convinced, you crappy brands?
Relying on the favor of the master, the confidant was so arrogant that he no longer cared about his work and even dared to replace the master's official Yan with Yan Mo. A servant, a small matter, the master could ignore it, but he was still a confidant, but if he went too far, the master would immediately show his anger.
The matter was not too big, and the master did not resort to any drastic measures. He just scolded his confidant slightly in front of other servants. Who among the servants who could be a servant in a big house was ignorant? Each of them had a keen sense of smell, just like the capital. In order to flatter his confidant, the servants had bought the "fresh fart" emitted by the confidant at three quarters past midnight. You buy and I sell, and I sell and you buy. The price of the "fresh fart" was raised to a very high price.
Of the so-called 150 billion worth of the confidant, 140 billion is spent on "fresh farts", and the remaining 5 billion is for the machines he bought to make the farts fresher. Only 5 billion is the confidant's real assets, but this 5 billion is not safe. If the master gets angry someday, the confidant will be killed immediately.
Rolling his eyes when being pinched, and bragging when being let go, this is not what Nan Yi wants to see. He wants to do something for Huaguo Leather Jacket, and does not want to see Huaguo Leather Jacket being pinched by the neck.
If there must be a hand strangling his neck, Nan Yi is willing to shed tears, work tirelessly, and serve as that hand day and night. Of course, Nan Yi's subjective intention is not to strangle for the sake of strangling, but to protect the vulnerable merchants with the mentality of helping the world, stamping the October mark on their leather jackets, stamping the October mark on their US dollars, and loudly declaring to the black hands: "I opened this mountain, I planted this tree, take it, you!"
Well, actually, it is not that complicated. Nan Yi just wants to select a group of merchants who are strong enough and willing to share with others, to jointly create an October brand. The merchants provide funds and products, and the October company provides channels and connections. Everyone works together to bring October brand leather jackets into shopping malls.
For merchants, although October Company has an additional share of money from them, their own profits have also made a qualitative leap.
At the meeting, Nan Yi explained everything to the merchants earnestly, but few responded and few were interested. Only Liu Shunqing found Nan Yi after the meeting and expressed his interest in the Hundred-Five Plan. He suggested that not too many people should participate in the plan, and it would be best if only October Company and he cooperated. He was even willing to increase the commission given to October Company and not mention any sales commission, and both parties would share the profits 50-50.
Nan Yi did not agree immediately at that time. The Hundred-Five Plan could not be carried out with only one partner. He needed at least six or seven partners. With so many people, each of them had his or her own ideas. Only when the partners checked and balanced each other, would the position of October Company be stable.
In the next few days, Nan Yi focused his energy on the trade fair. Although the 100-50 plan was not popular, the small 100-50 plan of the October company to increase sales by 5% at the trade fair was well received by merchants, and everyone was willing to pay the money.
Everyone listened to the plan for the trade fair and visited the venue. They were all optimistic about the sales at the trade fair and did not want to miss this opportunity.
This is why Huaba's business has been very good these days. Everyone is busy transferring goods from the domestic market, and the tourist charter business has been easily opened up. However, it is still unclear whether the business can be sustained.
At the open-air training ground of the Modan Barracks, Nan Yi stood aside and watched Yingying and Yanyan rehearsing there.
Nan Yi hired 30 students from art schools to act as models, 20 men and 10 women, at a price of $12 per hour, and hired 50 students to act as guides at a price of $8 per hour. Currently, 80 people are lined up in a square formation, and the invited stage designers are directing their positions and movements.
Before the trade fair begins, there must be a warm-up. A parade of floats is a must. The day after tomorrow, 80 people will take to the streets to parade and attract the attention of Muscovites.
For marketing purposes and to take care of the merchants, Nan Yi set the theme of the parade as disco. There would be accompaniment during the parade. At this time, ABBA's "Gimme Gimme Gimme" was floating on the training ground. With the beat of the music, someone in the queue would walk out, do a few moves, then return to the queue and be replaced by the next one.
The work of stage design is not easy. Nan Yi would often take over and direct the models' movements, and he would even offer his own opinions on the models' styling.
When the music changed to "Boys", Nan Yi called the female model No. 8 out of the line, walked around her, looked at her height of over 180cm and her beautiful figure, and after thinking for a while, Nan Yi said, "What's your name?"
80 students were invited at once, and it was impossible for Nan Yi to remember their names. Each person had a different number on his or her clothes to make it easier for other staff members and Nan Yi to distinguish them.
"Vashilisa." Model No. 8 replied.
"Oh, your majesty, you need to change your look. Wear a pair of white shorts and a pair of black fishnet stockings. Change your shoes, too. Wear a pair of high heels."
"OK."
Vasilisa responded, walked to the side, picked out the clothes and accessories that Nan Yi mentioned from the basket of clothes and accessories, and took the things to the makeshift dressing room on the side.
After a while, Vasilisa changed her clothes and came back to Nan Yi. Seeing the brand new Vasilisa, Nan Yi nodded slightly. The effect he wanted was almost achieved, but there were still some flaws. After staring at Vasilisa's thighs for a while, Nan Yi squatted down, rolled up the stockings on Vasilisa's right leg to two centimeters above the knee, and then put a black sock ring on her white right thigh.
Seeing Nan Yi's actions, Vasilisa was a little nervous and worried at first, but Nan Yi's hands were always very honest, so she put her worries aside.
Standing up, Nan Yi looked at Vasilisa's thighs again and felt that it was not quite enough. After a little thought and with Vasilisa's permission, he put his right hand into the stockings on Vasilisa's left leg. With his left hand, he took out the key from his pocket and drew several lines on the stockings from bottom to top to create the effect of the stockings coming off, and then hooked two holes of different sizes on the inner side of the stockings near the thigh.
Standing up, Nan Yi looked at Vasilisa's thighs again, and felt that he had achieved the effect he wanted, so he looked up at Vasilisa's whole body, pondered for a while, then picked out an orange leather jacket from the basket and tried it on Vasilisa.
"The clothes are one size too small. It would feel better if it were a bigger size." Nan Yi muttered and asked Wu Xiaowei to go to the merchant to ask for a larger size.
After Wu Xiaowei brought the leather jacket, Nan Yi asked Vasilisa to put it on. After taking another look at her, Nan Yi called the stylist to him and said, "Paint her eyes in a Gothic style and put a big earring on her left ear..."
As he spoke, Nan Yi lifted up a strand of Vasilisa's hair and gestured as he said, "Perm this strand of hair. I want the effect of a stretched spring. Also, I want her hair to look wet."
After communicating with the stylist, Nan Yi called the costume designer over again, stretched out his thumb to press Vasilisa's belly button, and extended his index finger down, stopping five centimeters away from the belly button. "Think of this as the crotch. For the upper body vest, I want to give the effect of wearing an ultra-thin black one-piece swimsuit. Do you understand?"
She made an OK gesture for the clothing and took small steps to the basket of vests and underwear. She rummaged around in it, picked out two vests of the same style and color, then sat down in front of the sewing machine and started to alter them.
Vasilisa was pulled away by the stylist to do styling, and Nan Yi started to target other models.
Wu Xiaowei, who had been watching from the side, became stunned. Although he was not fluent in Russian, he could understand most of Nan Yi's hand movements. There were too many styles - there was a rose painted on the model's chest; there was a leather dog collar with teeth tied around the neck; there was a light blue swallowtail cap (nurse cap) on the model's head; and there was also a person wearing a leather jacket and leather pants, a cat's leather eye patch on his head, and a whip in his hand.
This, this, this... is so fucking perverted, he likes it so much.
"Don't be so useless. Wipe your saliva. What's the point of just looking? Go after the one you like." Nan Yi, who designed the looks for each female model, returned to Wu Xiaowei, took the teacup from him, took a sip of tea, and said, "Do you know Sabrina?"
Wu Xiaowei wiped his mouth and said excitedly: "Boss Nan, is it the singer who sang "Boys"? "
When Nan Yi heard this, he asked, "Why, have you watched the video tape?"
"No, no, I've only listened to her tapes."
"Don't be so stupid. Why are you so excited if you haven't seen the video?" Nan Yi laughed and waved his hand. "Whether you have seen it or not, Sabrina is Italian. Find a way to contact her management company and ask how much it would cost to invite her to Moscow for a commercial performance."
"Uncle Nan, I don't speak Italian." Wu Xiaowei said embarrassedly.
"Don't emphasize the objective difficulties. You must go forward when there are difficulties. If there are no difficulties , you must create difficulties and go forward even more. I know you are a smart kid and you are quite good at being sneaky and cunning. Use your brain and I believe you can think of a solution. Go ahead and tell me the answer before you leave work today." After Nan Yi finished speaking, he waved his hand again and let Wu Xiaowei leave.
After Nan Yi said this, Wu Xiaowei had no choice but to leave with a bitter face.
After Wu Xiaowei left, Nan Yi watched the training ground for a while and left with his teacup. It would take some time for the models to be styled and their clothes altered, so he couldn't waste time here and went to the office to take care of other things first.
While walking on the road, Nan Yi said to the school beauty: "Call Sergei of Blood Type and place a small order. Ask him to investigate some underground bands in Moscow that have not yet made it big. I want them to have more young people who like them."
Nan Yi was just teasing Wu Xiaowei when he said he would invite Sabrina. Sabrina was very popular and was the most internationally famous young female singer in Italy. Her appearance fee would not be low. Moreover, the time for inviting someone was a bit tight and it might disrupt her schedule. Sabrina's agent would definitely ask for a high price, and the exhibition did not have the budget for this.
…
In London, Zhao Shixian followed . When he saw Nan Ruojin in her princess dress, he was so attracted by her that he held her in his arms and didn't want to let go.
In fact, Nan Yi had never told Catherine and Zhao Shixian about each other's existence. It was just that Bolin Investment Holdings and PY Securities had cooperated in some aspects, and with more business dealings, they would naturally become familiar with each other. After a few chats, they knew each other's role, and private communication became more frequent.
During Zhao Shixian's stay in the castle, the two women would drink together, complain about Nan Yi together, and curse Scarlett, whom they had never met but had seen countless times in the signature of emails.
In Nan's company, Liu Zhen's presence is not strong, but Scarlett's presence is everywhere. Both women have been assigned tasks by Scarlett, and they must be feeling suffocated.
The two women have the same pain points and can complain together, but they have not become sisters or besties. There is still an impenetrable barrier between them. Two actresses with similar positioning wish each other dead. It is simply a dream to expect two women with the same man to coexist peacefully for a long time. It is good enough to be able to interact occasionally like distant relatives.
Boleyn Castle has a large satellite signal receiver with a relatively good signal. Zhao Shixian lives in the castle, firstly because he loves Nan Ruojin, and secondly for the convenience of remote control. He wants to short the pound, and being in London will allow him to feel the atmosphere of Downing Street more intuitively.
In the guest room, Zhao Shixian was holding a cup of coffee and scanning the screens of two laptops on the table. One screen was showing the price of the British pound, while on the other, new messages kept popping up on a chat software used only in the financial field of the Nan Group.
The satellite's signal channels are limited, and other departments can only connect to the satellite regularly to check emails. However, the financial system can use chat software to chat with each other about your breakfast and my dinner across thousands of kilometers.
The timeliness of information in the financial industry is very important. Sometimes being just a few seconds faster than others can mean tens of millions of dollars in profit or loss. As time goes by, it may only take a few tenths of a second to make the difference between winning and losing.
Occasionally, a link would appear in the chat window, and Zhao Shixian would shout into the air, "Yizai, open the link," and a new window would immediately appear on the computer screen, displaying the content of the link.
Every time she called out "Yi Zai", a wicked smile would appear on Zhao Shixian's face. It is estimated that in her mind, Yi Zai is not an artificial intelligence, nor a cat, but Nan Yi.
In the past few days, a wave of speculative selling has been raging in European markets, starting with the Finnish Mark. After exhausting its foreign exchange reserves, the Finnish government announced that it would abandon the policy of pegging the currency to the European Currency Unit, allowing the Finnish Mark to float freely in the market. On that day, the Finnish Mark depreciated by nearly 15%, and international hot money made huge profits in almost the blink of an eye.
The next day, international hot money targeted the Swedish krona again. Faced with a pressing situation, the Swedish government announced overnight that it would raise interest rates to 75%, an unprecedented high enough to allow funds to flow back into the domestic market.
Seeing that the attack was fruitless, the funds, which relied on advanced electronic communications systems to operate, turned to attack the Italian lira.
Unlike Finland, Italy is not yet a formal member of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, so it cannot count on help from other European central banks when speculators target it.
This is not the case with Italy. If the lira depreciates, it will mean the first time that a member of the exchange rate mechanism has been hit hard by the market, and the Italian central bank has the right to obtain support from the strong and powerful German central bank.
In fact, in the past week, Italy has borrowed about $36 billion worth of marks from Germany. Although this intervention is unprecedented, it still failed.
The scene in the UK was quite different. When visiting officials from Italy and Germany discussed the devaluation of the lira, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Lamont still attended the event according to his long-arranged schedule. In the British media's description, Lamont even seemed a little complacent because he knew that Germany's interest rates were going to fall.
As part of the Italian lira devaluation agreement, Deutsche Bank will announce a 0.25% interest rate cut next Monday, September 14, which is equivalent to a disguised increase in the value of the pound.
In fact, in the eyes of most analysts and financial professionals, Italy and the UK are not comparable at all. Italy is the most chaotic among the wealthy countries in Europe, and its domestic political structure and economic system cannot be compared with those of the UK. The UK is a country led by the Conservative Party, which has changed the country's economic situation in the past decade.
In addition, the currency pressure caused by the market selling trend of the pound since August has been successfully resolved by the Bank of England. In addition to the huge foreign exchange reserves, the UK announced in early September that it would borrow 10 billion European currencies (7.25 billion pounds) to enhance its ability to defend the pound.
This would give the Bank of England more than $50 billion in funds at its disposal.
What Lamont didn't expect was that the money prepared by the UK could only be equivalent to the pounds prepared by Quantum Fund alone (it might not be its own funds, it could also borrow pounds from British banks). In addition to Quantum Fund, there were countless other hedge funds and international hot money ready to sell pounds at any time.
On Monday, September 14, when the London foreign exchange market opened, the Bank of England received the news that Germany would cut interest rates and purchased pounds sterling worth US$700 million in the market to maintain the value of the currency, causing the pound sterling exchange rate to rise slightly that day, as if everything was going well.
But in the eyes of speculators like Zhao Shixian, they saw a signal, a very good signal - even with the assistance of the German central bank, the pound only rose a little bit, which meant that they could sell the pound freely, and the worst result would be only a little bit anyway.
A win is a big win, and a loss is a small loss.
The next day, September 15, the wave of selling of the pound arrived as expected. The final result was that the Bank of England spent more than one billion US dollars to barely keep the pound at the 2.7850 mark, only a few basis points away from 2.7780 (100 basis points represent 1 percentage point, and 0.0001 or 0.01% is 1 basis point).
On the same day, Zhao Shixian ordered the sale of the remaining pounds in the British foreign exchange market held by PY Securities.
There is a bank in London called Jardine Matheson Bank. It was not easy for PY Securities to borrow pounds. An email was sent to Hong Kong, and Ma Shimin copied it to London. Then a pound account with the equivalent of US$1 billion was handed to her.
The pounds in the account have been sold to international hot money at different prices in the past few days. Now all Zhao Shixian needs to do is to buy the same amount of pounds in the market at the appropriate time, return it to Jardine Matheson Bank and pay the interest on the loan.
Later on the same day, the content of Schlesinger's interview was published by the Wall Street Journal and the German Handelsblatt. In the interview, Schlesinger claimed that a broad adjustment of European currencies would be better than a separate adjustment of the lira.
The implication of his words is very clear, that is, not only the lira needs to be adjusted, but other currencies also need to be adjusted. Which one should be adjusted?
There is no doubt that the British pound is at the forefront of the storm.
Lamont was stunned. Schlesinger's speech was tantamount to calling for the devaluation of the pound. Schlesinger's last public statement had already led to the collapse of the lira, and now he began to criticize Britain.
Lamont asked the central bank governor Pemberton to call Schlesinger immediately. Pemberton had some concerns about this because he knew Schlesinger didn't like being disturbed while eating dinner, but Lamont couldn't care less.
The Bank of England asked the German Central Bank to issue a statement immediately that evening, which said: The press release was unauthorized, Schlesinger did not say those words, and the content of the article was not his original intention.
The German central bank did issue this statement, but this statement, which sounded like vomiting, was not enough to gain everyone's trust. In any case, Wall Street subjectively chose not to believe it.
Soros and Druckenmiller, after reading the press release, seemed to have received orders for a general attack. Usually they gave instructions to traders to execute transactions, but this time they did it themselves and called counterparties willing to buy pounds.
It was still Tuesday night in London.
Zhao Shixian had already ordered the selling of pounds before the statement was revealed. He did not pursue the highest profit and left room for maneuver. This principle is a warning motto for the Nan financial system. Whether it is Scarlett Fund or PY Securities, they will often run away before the signal gun is fired.
If Nan's Finance were to compete with other financial companies in operating the same stock or currency, it would never be able to get first place. Nan's Finance would never have the courage to go all out.
Over the years, legendary figures have emerged from Wall Street from time to time, creating a wealth myth in a short period of time. Starting with a few thousand dollars, within a year or two, the capital swells to hundreds of millions of dollars. From dirty apartments to top manors, it seems that it only takes a moment to embrace a star.
Nan Yi has never liked such high-profile legends and celebrity figures. His likes and dislikes will naturally affect the entire Nan family. All Nan family members have developed a low-key style of doing things and being a low-key person.
Only a tycoon with a net worth of 500 billion who cannot produce 10 billion will jump around in front of the media, because his net worth is inflated. If he doesn't expose himself and push up his net , the banks will come to him to collect the bad debts.
Just like businessmen who make installment payments or buy second-hand luxury cars, they often try hard to let others know that they have a luxury car. There is no other way, they have a poor foundation and too little money. In order to appear powerful, they can only make the surface look better. Maybe they have owed money for cigarettes to the convenience store downstairs in the company for two weeks.
Zhao Shixian acted faster than other international hot money. She asked her people to sell the pound at the bottom limit price of 2.7780 in the global market. PY Securities not only operates in the London foreign exchange market, but also in other countries' foreign exchange markets. London is just a small test. There is still 5 billion US dollars worth of pounds to be sold in the global market.
At the same time as Zhao Shixian made his move, in the Quantum Fund's office in New York, Druckenmiller's first reaction to the statement was that Schlesinger would be very happy to see Britain squeezed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, and the German central bank had no intention of helping out, which meant that the depreciation of the pound was inevitable.
An extremely excited Druckenmiller walked into Soros' office and discussed the next strategy with Soros, who had just returned from the UK a few days ago.
"I will gradually increase my positions until the pound is finally defeated." Druckenmiller paced back and forth in Soros's huge office, with excitement shining in his eyes.
"What?" Soros shouted, "If the news is correct, we will be in a position to win. So why hesitate? Go all out, put all your positions on the line, and go all out!"
Hearing his boss say this, Druckenmiller burst out laughing, "I still don't know my boss well enough. In this case, according to his gambler character, of course it's Showhand."
With little time left, Druckenmiller and Soros decided to take matters into their own hands and call banks that were willing to do business with them.
According to the European Exchange Rate System, the Bank of England must buy pounds at 2.7780 to keep the pound in the European Monetary System, but this is only valid during London trading hours. At this point in time, London trading hours have passed, and they must find other buyers.
After the news of Soros and Druckenmiller's frantic shorting of the pound spread, bank traders who took the sell orders from the Quantum Fund also began to sell. Everyone knew that the pound could not hold up.
Very quickly, the pound had fallen below the lower limit and it was almost impossible to find buyers for the pound.
Because the selling was timely and at the lowest price, PY Securities' pounds were quickly sold out.
The next day, September 16, although she stayed up very late the night before, Zhao Shixian still got up very early, went downstairs to have breakfast with Catherine, and personally made a cup of "Shixian" coffee, which was a niche brand and only supplied to her.
Don’t think that Nan Yi doesn’t understand romance at all. He leased a few coffee trees in the coffee garden of Lu Yu Tea Industry. With a little effort, a coffee brand came into being. The fertilizer used for the coffee trees was all pulled out by Nan Yi himself.
Exclusively supplied and unique, a billionaire personally produces fertilizer, this is true romance.
At eight o'clock in the morning London time, Wall Street hedge fund traders who had made a big bet on the pound had no time to care about the all-nighters of the past few days. At 3:30 in the morning, they drank bitter coffee, ran to the toilet again and again to wash their faces with cold water, and were still looking for buyers in the market under the bright lights.
Zhao Shixian was very leisurely, sipping coffee and watching the battle between bulls and bears. The pounds of PY Securities had been sold and the position had been established. Next, she just had to wait for the pound to depreciate and see how much it would cost to buy it back so that she could calculate the final profit this time.
At 8:30, on the dot, the Bank of England took action, making two consecutive and close moves, buying 300 million pounds each time, expecting to pull the pound back into the ERM floating range, but there was no effect, and the market was flooded with selling orders.
"Sell, one billion pounds."
Druckenmiller, far away in New York, shouted instructions to traders.
"One billion..."
The young and inexperienced trader shuddered. Such a number was much larger than any transaction he had ever made. However, his good professional ethics made him sell the money immediately after being stunned for a moment.
When the ten billion pound sell order appeared on the trading screen, those who were still hesitating whether to continue shorting immediately followed suit and again placed sell orders of varying amounts, once again increasing the pressure on the pound.
In fact, in the free-floating GBP/USD market, the pound has fallen for five consecutive trading days, a drop of more than 7.5%. Excluding the pounds sold last night, PY Securities has made more than 5% profit in the foreign exchange market.
"2.7790, this is an important level. The Bank of England should take action again." Zhao Shixian muttered while sitting in front of the computer.
As soon as Zhao Shixian finished his murmur, the important threshold of 2.7790 was broken, and the current price of the pound was 2.7788.
Behind the seemingly insignificant two basis points are actually countless funds flowing. The Bank of England continues to buy in the market to prevent prices from falling to the bottom line.
At 8:40, the price of the pound reached another important level of 2.7785, which is the second line of defense, only five basis points away from 2.7780.
“Buy, keep buying!”
Following Pemberton's orders, the Bank of England bought another £400 million, but the pound remained unchanged.
Pemberton's eyes turned red, he picked up the phone and called Finance Minister Lamont.
"I can't stand it anymore, find a solution quickly."
At this point, Pemberton no longer cared about his manners. He knew very well that once the pound reached its lowest point, there would be no other buyers in the market.
Perhaps there will be buyers at other higher prices, because everyone knows that at the lower point of 2.7780, the Bank of England will definitely buy it, so they can earn the exchange rate difference.
So far, the Bank of England has used up more than 3 billion pounds of foreign exchange reserves, but the pound continues to fall, with each quote lower than the last.
"Hold on, I'll contact the Prime Minister right away and ask for an increase in interest rates."
But before Lamont could figure out how to put it, the Bank of England called again - the price of 2.7785 was breached, and the exchange rate of pound to mark was about to fall to the lower limit of the European Exchange Rate System.
Speculative funds were frantically selling and buying in both markets. On the one hand, they bought marks, forcing them to appreciate, and on the other hand, they sold pounds in large quantities, causing their depreciation to continue to intensify.
International hot money is well aware that the European exchange rate system to which the pound is linked is essentially the exchange rate against the mark, because Germany occupies the largest share in the European exchange rate system.
Lamont could no longer sit still. Regardless of the principle of diplomatic reciprocity, he called Schlesinger and said, "Mr. Schlesinger, the situation is critical now. I hope you can continue to lower Germany's interest rates to keep Britain in the European Monetary System."
Obviously, although Lamont lowered his own status, his request was very rude. His request to lower interest rates was rejected by Schlesinger. However, in return for being valued, Schlesinger agreed to intervene in the appreciation of the mark in the foreign exchange market.
Schlesinger's words were equivalent to saying nothing. After hanging up the phone, Lamont was full of resentment. After calming down a little, he called Prime Minister Major.
Although Lamont explained the urgent situation of the time, his request to raise interest rates to attract foreign capital back was ruthlessly rejected by Major.
As the leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Major has to consider not only the economy, but also too much. The decision to raise interest rates is not so easy to make. In the phone call, he told Lamont that the economic data of last month would be released later, and he believed it would bring a positive impact on the pound.
After being rejected twice in a row, Lamont was furious, but he had no other choice but to continue buying pounds in the market to keep the price of pound above 2.7780.
Zhao Shixian watched the numbers on the screen change, wondering what measures the Bank of England would take. In fact, there was no need to guess, because all they could do was raise interest rates. But judging from the current situation, that would have absolutely no effect.
"2.7782"
"2.7781"
The numbers on the screen keep changing, waiting for that point, that moment to come.
At 10:30 in the morning, the number finally stopped at 2.7780, and then there was no more fluctuation. A straight line appeared, and there was no arbitrage room at all.
All over the world, cheers broke out in countless offices, and traders shouted and celebrated their victory, but the trading room of the Bank of England was filled with grief. From then on, the Bank of England had to fight alone and would never have any allies.
“It’s time.”
Zhao Shixian put down his coffee cup, typed "Give me the money" in a chat window, switched to another window, and typed "Show time".
The foreign exchange market is just the first step. PY Securities also needs to operate treasury bond futures...