"Little Swift is in for a world of hurt this time; he's probably going to lose 15 billion dollars!" As November 30th drew closer, people on Wall Street remarked with ill-concealed glee.
"Isn't that the truth? I heard he tried to come to Wall Street again yesterday and was turned away?" someone asked curiously.
"Yes, he wanted Mr. Shuford to help mediate, but Shuford, being the shrewd man he is, ran off to Las Vegas three days ago. So, he made another fruitless trip!" another said smugly, as if seeing Little Swift embarrassed was a cause for celebration.
"Is that so? Then Mr. Warren must have gone on vacation too!" someone else chimed in.
"How do you know about Mr. Warren?" another asked, perplexed.
"Because when I came to work this morning, I saw that black guy standing at Mr. Warren's door. But the butler didn't even let him inside, so he had to wait outside. Hahaha, it was just too funny!"
"Hahahaha!" A wave of cheerful laughter erupted. The most amusing news of the past few days had been all the rejections Little Swift had faced.
Little Swift had visited Wall Street five times in recent days, seeking help from several highly respected elders. However, he was either politely declined or simply avoided. In any case, Little Swift had become a laughingstock among countless Wall Street professionals.
"By the way, have you bought any stocks?" Suddenly, the atmosphere turned a bit subtle as someone asked.
"Oh, Jester, you sly dog!" another chuckled. "I actually bought yesterday, Motorola, 100,000 shares!"
"Oh!" gasps of surprise came from the surroundings. Some confused individuals asked, "What's going on? What are you talking about?"
"Don't you understand? He's just saying he bought 100,000 shares of Motorola stock, simple as that!" someone said with a laugh.
"You bought 100,000 Motorolas? That would be 1.2 million dollars! That's probably your entire fortune! Carter, have you gone mad? Everyone in the circle knows that Motorola and Nokia are about to take a nosedive. Everyone is avoiding those two stocks like the plague. Why did you jump in?" the person asked incredulously.
"Hahahaha!" Carter burst into laughter. "Rol, you truly are still a newcomer. Very well, let me give you a hint today. That's right, everyone knows that mobile stocks are about to experience a sharp decline, but all we need to know is when this decline will begin. If we can sell all our shares before then, everything will be fine!"
"How can we possibly know when the sharp decline will start..." Rol's voice trailed off, and his face suddenly lit up with understanding.
"It seems you get it!" Carter smiled. "That's right, at least before the Western Mustang Fund makes large-scale stock purchases, these mobile stocks will not plummet."
"No, they won't just not plummet; they'll actually see a surge. Look at how high the stock prices of these mobile phones have already climbed. The day before yesterday, Motorola's stock was at $112, and now it's at $120, an increase of over 7%. If someone had bought these stocks the day before, they would have made a 7% return! How much money is that!"
"You mean this is a guaranteed win?" Rol asked, sounding tempted.
"Exactly, this is a guaranteed win!" Jester interjected. "Everyone knows that the Western Mustang Fund must purchase stocks to repay their borrowed shares, so it's inevitable that they will spend a large sum to acquire stocks in the market!"
"And other institutions in the industry, in order to offload their own shares, will work together to maintain the stock prices of these few companies, forcing the Western Mustang Company to buy at high prices. Then, these institutions can drain the Western Mustang Fund dry!"
"This way, they not only avoid losses but also make a substantial profit, and incidentally, completely crush that damned black financial god into dust!"
"Since we know this, all we need to do is buy stocks now and sell them the moment the Western Mustang Fund starts its acquisition. As long as we sell at a slightly lower price, the Western Mustang Fund will undoubtedly buy our low-priced stocks without hesitation, and then we will all make a fortune!"
"Isn't this a sure win?" Jester finished, a smug smile on his face.
"I see!" Rol nodded. However, after a moment of thought, he still asked with some concern, "Will the upward trend really continue? Will there be any unexpected changes? What if it falls?"
"It's absolutely impossible for it to fall!" Carter asserted. "There are only two types of buyers in the stock market: either foolish retail investors who don't understand anything, or professionals and institutions like us!"
"Retail investors don't understand the stock market. They don't analyze the true value of companies and are easily influenced by various publicly released news, and then they believe it!"
"This quarterly report alone is enough to make these retail investors full of confidence in the value of these mobile stocks before the annual report. They won't flee!"
"As for institutions, as mentioned earlier, their interests are intertwined. They will not allow the stock prices to fall. Furthermore, now that we have entered the market, we are all elites who understand the situation clearly. So, as long as the Western Mustang Fund doesn't act, no one will sell their stocks, and the stock prices will be even more stable!"
"Therefore, these stock prices are as stable as Mount Tai, and there will be no problems. You can rest assured!" Carter said.
"But the number of stocks the Western Mustang Fund needs to buy is limited, and the number of shares institutions hold that they want to offload is likely to be even greater. If we add the capital from people like us who want to jump in and make a profit, the overall market might be much larger than the Western Mustang Fund's demand. In that case, only some will be able to get out, and some people will be trapped!" Rol continued to question.
"Don't worry, aren't there those lovely retail investors?" Jester said nonchalantly. "Before those big institutions make their exit, the stock prices will continue to soar, attracting more and more retail investors. Meanwhile, the institutions will take advantage of the opportunity to continuously sell their stocks and quietly withdraw."
"These are professional tactics, and those retail investors will never notice them. By the time they realize it, the institutions will have already fled!"
"However, these institutions can only fool those ignorant retail investors, but they can't fool professionals like us. After all, these operations are done by us. We just need to follow the institutions, or even withdraw a little earlier by lowering the price slightly, and we can successfully exit."
"Then won't the retail investors lose miserably?" Rol said with a hint of pity.
"Rol, I must remind you, in our line of work, you have to understand one thing: the stock market is risky, and blaming God for losing money!"
"I understand!" Rol nodded forcefully, lamenting that he was indeed too young. He then contemplated whether he should buy some as well.
"Rol, let me remind you again, don't buy it yourself. Use an intermediary. Otherwise, if you're discovered, you'll be in deep trouble!" Carter reminded him. Rol nodded gratefully.
As everyone finished their discussion and prepared to disperse, Rol suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but ask, "What if the Western Mustang Fund, even if they can't renew the contract, refuses to enter the market to buy stocks to cover their short positions?"
"..." The site fell silent at this question, then erupted in a burst of laughter. "Impossible! The Western Mustang Fund wouldn't do such a foolish thing!"
"Why?" Rol asked, confused.
"Because they'd lose even more money!" Carter exclaimed. "If they violate the agreement and fail to return the borrowed stocks on time, according to the contract, they will be charged a 1% late fee for each day. This will be directly deducted from the margin they deposited with the major financial institutions. A single day's delay means a deduction of 400 million US dollars, and three months would deplete all their funds."
"The Western Mustang Fund would have to be insane to do that. As the deadline approaches, they will definitely buy stocks frantically to cover their short positions. There will be no problem!" the few of them stated confidently.
In the following days, just as these financial elites had predicted, not only did the main mobile stocks of Motorola, Samsung, and Nokia not fall, but they entered a continuous upward trend.
By November 27, 2004, with three days left until the deadline, the prices of the three stocks were already 70% higher than the Western Mustang Fund's purchase price, approaching their previous peaks again.
This caused many stock investors to exclaim in disbelief. Simultaneously, various articles and analyses began to appear in the market, suggesting that the previous decline in Motorola and other stocks was due to market panic caused by Zhong Mi.
Now that the third-quarter financial reports of Motorola and other companies proved their performance was not affected by Zhong Mi and had even improved, the market's panic subsided, and a sense of correction began. Naturally, stock prices rebounded.
Finally, these analytical pieces assured that stock prices would not only rebound by over 80% but even exceed 100%, reaching a new peak!
As a result, more and more retail investors began to enter the market. The entire market was filled with a prosperous atmosphere, and stock prices continued to climb. Mobile stocks had become the most bullish stocks in the entire market.
And it was rumored that Little Swift of the Western Mustang Fund had already trashed his office three times.