Top of the big era

Big planes are good.

You can fly directly from the capital to New York without stopping in between.

Zhou Buqi came to America this time mainly for three reasons.

First, see land vehicles and dig people.

Second, promote the Google and AdMob deal.

The third is to further participate in the wave of the financial crisis.

The stakes are high.

It's worth a shot!

In the past few days, Zhou Buqi has also thought about it clearly.

Investing, how can you not take risks?

If you can't even bear the risk of financial operations after foresight, then your own situation is too low. Living in peace and stability is not an entrepreneur.

Of course, if rare things happen, in the weirdly volatile financial market, even foresight is useless... Zhou Buqi can only admit it.

For Boss Lu, Boss Liu, and Lao Wang and Lao Shi, if they lose their money, they will lose it.

Investment will inevitably have the risk of losing money.

But other people can't do it.

If they really lost money, Zhou Buqi would have to pay for their losses out of his own pocket in the future.

For this, Zhou Buqi has already been mentally prepared.

Come here, let's go!

There were more than 30 people in a group, and the scene was a bit scary.

Went to New York to meet with the fund manager.

Hearing the reason for Ming Zhou Buqi's visit, this blue-eyed, high-nosed white American came up and hugged Zhou Buqi in his arms, and even kissed him on the face...

Zhou Buqi backed away in fright.

After asking, I realized that this buddy has not been going well recently.

In the past six months, his capital floating profit has exceeded 90%, and his performance is quite good.

However, recently the US media has reported many funds that are actively shorting the market, and many of them have amazing returns. For example, a small salesman named Paulson raised 130 million US dollars last year and started shorting the market.

The performance is very good, and more and more financial owners have entered the market one after another, giving him money to help him short. By the end of last year, the total size of the two funds he operated had reached US$5 billion.

Now, half a year later, the total size of the two funds has reached 19 billion US dollars!

In just 6 months, he made a crazy profit of 14 billion US dollars!

Turned nearly 4 times!

In contrast, the rate of return of the fund invested by Zhou Buqi is really not enough, it is too reluctant. How much risk do you need to bear to short the market, or you will lose everything if you fail.

As a result, only 90% of the income was obtained.

In the past two weeks, the fund manager has started to transform, and gradually increased the share of shorting the housing market. As a result, the operation failed, and he lost a fortune, and the floating profit was only 60%.

Many funders felt that this person was too stupid, so they withdrew their funds one after another and invested in other funds.

Chasing ups and downs is a common habit.

Now, the fund he is in charge of only has a scale of US$1.6 billion left, which has shrunk by 80% from its peak.

The $2.2 billion in funds that Zhou Buqi sent all the way could be regarded as an urgent need.

This huge sum of 2.2 billion U.S. dollars is mainly decided by Zhou Buqi.

Wherever he said to vote, he voted.

None of the people behind the investment understand the financial market. Even if they understand finance, it is domestic finance, which is completely different from Wall Street.

Everyone who came here this time witnessed and supervised with their own eyes.

As for how to operate, it all depends on the week.

Zhou Buqi is a bit stressed.

How could he understand this!

At the beginning, he also picked this one out of several short-selling private equity funds. This fund manager previously worked in a large investment bank and reached the director level. He has a good resume, high level, and rich experience!

Who would have thought that the rate of return of such an industry expert would be crushed by an ordinary salesman!

However, it is impossible to retreat at this time.

Withdraw from this fund and choose another fund... This process is too cumbersome and time-consuming.

There is also a very important point, as reported in the media, there are not even 20% of the short-selling funds that are really profitable. Most of them have been played to death by the market.

Although the rate of return of this buddy is a bit low, at least it is still profitable, and it still belongs to the 20% of high-quality funds.

In the past few years of doing business, Zhou Buqi has one of the most profound insights, that is, he refuses to add icing on the cake, and chooses the right time to give timely help. Business routines are all kinds of weird and different all over the world, but there is one thing in common. We are all human and have the most basic human nature.

The most profitable businesses make money through human nature, not marketing and marketing.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Zhou Buqi firmly believed that he would continue to cooperate with this fund manager and help him when he was frustrated!

Of course, the conditions will be much better.

Previously, the fund manager's profit commission was 20%.

This time, he will set up a new fund, add the 300 million US dollars he has worked so hard to get before and the 2.2 billion US dollars that he entered this time, and make up a plate of 2.5 billion US dollars, and the profit commission will be reduced to 10%. .

Then, he eagerly told Zhou Buqi about his new investment philosophy.

Zhou Buqi couldn't understand a lot of professional vocabulary.

I have to rely on my sister Bao to translate in a low voice.

It roughly means that in the past six months, the reason why his fund's rate of return is not too high is mainly due to the problem of investment structure. Only 10% of his funds are invested in the housing market.

Shorting the housing market is the most profitable market.

Those gold medal funds that earned four or five times in half a year, without exception, were short in the real estate market, and all their funds were invested in the real estate market.

Between the words, there was also contempt for those gold medal funds.

Zhou Buqi also understood.

This is in line with the three old sayings in China - "A fellow worker is more respectful", "A barefoot is not afraid of a shoe", and "A newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger".

The fund manager that Zhou Buqi selected had a bright background and a high level of reputation in the industry. He wears shoes and invested his own money, so he was a little cautious in investment to ensure profitability.

Shorting the housing market was too risky, and he only put 10% of his capital into it.

But those ordinary salesmen, a poor man, got all the money in their hands from the benefactor.

When this group of people operates, it is illogical, they are all a group of super lunatics.

Go up and rush into the riskiest market.

What they earn is a commission.

Of course, the higher the income, the higher the commission. As for how much they will lose if they fail... They are poor people in the first place. They don't have much fame and prestige in the industry.

It became a huge gamble.

Win, the pinnacle of life.

If you lose, it's a big deal to change careers.

The fund manager selected by Zhou Buqi is an elite in the industry, very good, and has invested his own wealth in it, so of course he can't play big bets...

The fund manager also briefly talked about how the real estate market is played in a cynical tone.

Mainly all kinds of CDS bonds.

The general logic is that major investment banks have issued various bond derivatives related to the housing market, ranging from CC to AA. The higher the rating, the better the credit and the easier it is to fulfill the contract.

To short the housing market is to short housing bonds.

Some people think that the investment bank is failing, and the losses are too serious to fulfill the bonds, so they are all bearish.

On the other hand, if an investment bank wants to maintain its own reputation, it must continuously perform bonds and raise prices, which is to do long.

Many bullish private equity funds believe in the capabilities of the federal government, the Federal Reserve, and investment banks, and believe that they can deal with the crisis and will follow suit.

This is a tug of war between you and me.

So far, the bear side has won the day.

Earn a lot of money.

The financial reports of major investment banks in the first half of the year often lost tens of billions of dollars, which can be called the worst looting of a major Wall Street investment bank in history.

The fund manager had previously done CC-rated bonds.

This category falls under junk bonds.

The more junk the bond, the lower the value, and the easier it is to become a piece of waste paper, so it is easy to make money by being short. The disadvantage is that the leverage is small and the rate of return is low.

The bonds that investment banks value most are AA-rated bonds. This is the credit for investment banks to survive in the industry, and they are all bonds that are defended with their lives.

If the BB-rated bond defaults and cannot be paid, the insurance company will compensate 20 times, which is equivalent to 20 times leverage.

Spend 1 yuan to buy BB-rated bonds, and when the short sellers win a big victory and smash the BB-rated bonds into waste paper, you can get 20 yuan in liquidated damages.

The rate of return for grade AA is even higher, 200 times!

However, such high-quality bonds are the flesh and blood of investment banks. How could the default of these bonds become waste paper?

Unless the investment bank is dead.

If you lose your life, your reputation will also be lost, and the bond will be completely turned into a piece of waste paper.

The insurance company wants to vomit blood and compensate for liquidated damages.

After this conversation, Zhou Buqi completely understood.

He knew what the hell was going on in the financial markets!

Kill without blood!

In the current US financial market, there are two groups of people.

A group of wild capital like hungry wolves. They don't care about the stability of the American market, the lives of ordinary people, or the possibility that the U.S. economy may go back decades...they just want to make money!

Shorting like crazy!

As long as the market is completely killed, they will win a big victory, and they will suck the blood of the entire American people.

There is another group of people, namely the federal government, the Federal Reserve, major investment banks on Wall Street, and some well-known positive energy funds. They are working hard to maintain the stability of the financial market and stick to the bottom line to prevent chaos in the United States.

There are no eggs under the nest.

On the surface, it seems that the federal government, the Federal Reserve, and the major investment banks on Wall Street are stronger.

However, they made too many mistakes before.

On the issue of subprime mortgages in the housing market, too many opportunities have been left for the hungry wolves. As a result, they discovered the problem and wanted to make up for it in time. They were already riddled with holes, and tens of billions of dollars of short-selling funds had already been rushed in. Each of them wields big levers and stirs up the super big plate of trillions of dollars.

Now, it's the final battle!

If the bears win, the U.S. economy will set back decades.

If the bulls win, the U.S. financial market will remain stable, and the national wealth will not be looted.

After listening to such an introduction, Zhou Buqi understood it well and understood it.

He had always heard that Wall Street had plundered the wealth of the American middle class for decades during the subprime mortgage crisis... Now it seems that this statement is not accurate enough.

The main forces on Wall Street are all standing with the US Federal Reserve and the Federal Reserve, and are working hard to maintain stability.

The real killers are the wild forces of Wall Street, the insurgents, the guerrillas, the rebel forces, and the hungry wolves of capital who are besieged to fight for aid...

Zhou Buqi shuddered.

It also understands why the domestic financial market is so strictly regulated, and it is in a semi-closed and semi-open state. If this group of wild hungry wolves from Wall Street are allowed to charge in... I am afraid that it will be more catastrophic, and the fruits of reform and opening up may be wiped out overnight.

terrible!

What the hell, for the sake of self-interest, disregarding the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the United States and even billions of people around the world, this is the evil way of capital that is often said in China, right?

So evil!

horrible!

Ordinary people are all little white rabbits, so they don't understand these complex gameplays. If you really want to stand with this group of wild capital hungry wolves, you will definitely be swallowed to the bone.

So much so that Zhou Buqi couldn't bear it anymore, his compassion flooded, and an idea of ​​giving up shorting came to his mind... This is helping the evildoer.

However, the thought disappeared the next moment.

The country is a semi-closed financial market, separated from the outside world by a wall, so the interference is not too great.

Well, it's not a big problem!

Next, the fund manager said another amazing situation, "In the past six months, I have made CC-rated bonds in the real estate market. Some aggressive funds have made BB-rated bonds. Their returns are higher."

Zhou Buqi asked: "Are you also going to enter the market to play BB-rated bonds?"

The fund manager shook his head, and said solemnly: "Recently, no less than 300 million US dollars of funds have rushed into the AA-rated bond market."

AA-rated bonds are the most stable, safest, and best-reputed bonds, and will be compensated 200 times in case of default. In common understanding, such bonds are impossible to default on.

Zhou Buqi froze for a moment, "Is it possible?"

The fund manager narrowed his eyes, "I plan to enter the market too!"

"ah?"

Zhou Buqi was taken aback.

The fund manager said: "There are five major investment banks in the United States, namely Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns. Bear Stearns, the weakest, had to be sold in March because it faced a debt default. Damo survived this hurdle."

Zhou Buqi's heart skipped a beat.

Bear Stearns, who was the weakest, was saved by the Federation and Morgan Stanley.

The weakest investment bank right now is Lehman Brothers!

Famous!

This world-renowned investment bank went bankrupt this year! Even if Zhou Buqi doesn't understand finance, he has heard of this shocking news.

The fund manager said in a deep voice: "As far as I know, the loss of Lehman Brothers in the first half of the year reached 20 billion U.S. dollars, and Merrill Lynch also exceeded 13 billion U.S. dollars. Morgan Stanley exceeded 10 billion, and Goldman Sachs also had several billion."

Zhou Buqi didn't know what to say.

I feel so ridiculous!

In China, it is a group of private hot money who joined forces to give ICBC, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications and Postal Savings a nest.

It really is the emperor of the United States, what a wonderful thing!

The fund manager said: "Now there are short-selling funds starting to enter the AA-rated market, which is a signal."

"What signal?"

"They... well, it should be us, and I am firmly bearish. We believe that with the strength of the federal government and the Federal Reserve, all investment banks cannot be saved!"

"Well……"

Zhou Buqi feels that the rebirth has never been so thrilling as it is now in the past few years.

So exciting!

This group of people wants to smash the federal government, the Federal Reserve and several major investment banks to the ground!

The foresight told him that this group of wild Wall Street wolves had succeeded in hunting!

They literally devoured a tiger!

The fund manager said coldly: "If the federal government and the Federal Reserve don't come to the rescue, these major investment banks will all die. Even if they are saved, they can only be rescued by the big ones. I think Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers are very dangerous. There is no possibility of default on AA-rated bonds. For example, in order not to default, Bear Stearns sold itself to Morgan Stanley and asked Morgan Stanley to help repay the due bonds. However, there is an exception!"

Zhou Buqi took a deep breath, "If the federation hadn't injected capital into Morgan Stanley so that they could merge Bear Stearns, they wouldn't be able to honor the maturing bonds. They would go bankrupt."

The fund manager said: "Yes, bankruptcy! As long as you are bankrupt, you can get up to 200 times the return through the insurance company for the bonds that cannot be redeemed."

"What if it's not bankrupt? What if the Fed rescued it?"

"Then the value of AA bonds will be stabilized, and short selling will fail. Therefore, the investment structure must be well designed. My idea is to use 30% of the funds to short the housing market, and 70% of the funds are still in the stock market. Among the funds for shorting the housing market, Use 5%-10% of your funds to bet on AA-rated bonds.”

"oh……"

Zhou Buqi felt a chill down his spine.

He was prophetic, and he knew that Lehman Brothers would die. But at this time, he didn't dare to "prompt" the fund manager to increase the amount of funds to short the AA-rated bonds of Lehman Brothers.

On the surface, if you use 100 million U.S. dollars to short, you can reap 20 billion U.S. dollars.

But this is too evil.

The leverage is too high.

Shorting is not a unilateral operation, it needs a long side to take over the order, mainly investment banks. It doesn’t take much, if you don’t spend $2 billion every week to increase leverage, you may not be able to keep any of the five major investment banks in the United States.

That little life is in danger.

There are no eggs under the nest.

You can follow along with the soup, but if he becomes the biggest vampire in the US market, he will be in trouble in the future.

Financial markets are too exaggerated.

Zhou Buqi was a little apprehensive, for fear that he would make too much money and be targeted by others.

It doesn't matter if you make money, but this kind of money makes people panic.

I can only whisper in my heart.

A few billion dollars is enough, don't make too much!

If the five major investment banks are killed, I can't bear the responsibility!

Money is very good, you have to spend it wisely.

Fortunately, this fund manager is an industry elite and a leader on Wall Street. If he is not barefoot, he will inevitably be afraid, and his investment style will not dare to be too aggressive.

Even if AA grade bonds are entered, the amount of funds should not be too much.

so far so good.

Zhou Buqi breathed a sigh of relief.

He wanted to be famous all over the world, but not in this way. Soros is famous, but he is notorious, and many countries have banned him from entering.

Stop talking, stop talking!

Give you the money, you can do whatever you want!

If something goes wrong, you have to bear it!

New York is scary.

My buddy has gone to Silicon Valley, and the high-tech industry is more comfortable.

That afternoon, Zhou Buqi took his sister Bao and two bodyguards to San Francisco by flight.