Chapter 70: His name is Zhou Ming

If you were to talk about the world's most famous city, New York would definitely be one of them. It is not the capital of the United States, but it is the most developed city in the United States, especially its financial industry. Therefore, it is also known as the world's financial centre. In the current situation where the world economy is becoming more and more closely linked, every move of the financial industry in New York undoubtedly affects the nerves of the whole world. It can be said that as long as New York catches a cold, the whole world will shiver, just like that Black Monday in 1987.

Manhattan is the centre of New York, and the centre of the world's financial centre. It can be said that almost all the world's major financial institutions are gathered here.

On the south side of the famous Wall Street, near Broadway, is the famous New York Mercantile Exchange, one of the most important futures markets in the United States. Together with the New York Stock Exchange next door, it has become one of the two symbols of the New York capital market.

At 9am, the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange has been open for public bidding for an hour. The floor is abuzz with activity, as everyone in their respective areas keeps an eye on the various alphanumeric symbols scrolling across the board, then shouts and makes strange hand gestures while exchanging opinions with their superiors. Various orders written to sell and buy are thrown around like snowflakes.

As the general manager of the American branch of the Hong Kong City Joint Investment Fund Company, Sun Wei was also sent here by Zhou Ming, and Sun Wei also managed to get a position in the New York Mercantile Exchange through his own operations. At this time, he was in his position, covering his ears with one hand and holding the phone with the other hand, listening hard.

'Mr Sun, what's the situation? What do the gentlemen upstairs think? Do they want us to start trading immediately? The breakdown of negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait has had a very negative impact on the market. It is only natural that the market will worry about instability in the Middle East. And we must start trading quickly, otherwise we may not be able to enter the market.'

Someone said to Sun Wei, 'After all, as the general manager of a branch company, you can't do it alone. That's why you have these people. Two of them were brought to the United States from Hong Kong by Sun Wei, while the others were all recruited after arriving in the United States. However, compared to Zhou Ming's local tyrants, Sun Wei is very frugal. Although the people under him have also graduated from prestigious schools, they are all recent graduates with lower salaries.

At this moment, these people gathered around Sun Wei. Seeing that Sun Wei was a little dazed, they couldn't help but ask anxiously. Perhaps the futures market is not as active as the securities market, but under the influence of the news, it is hard to say, which made them unable to help but worry.

Facing the inquiries of his subordinates, Sun Wei came back to his senses and replied, 'Brighton said that we should continue to place sell orders, and add another one million lots.'

Sun Wei's answer took everyone by surprise: 'What? Not only continue to sell orders, but also add another million hands. Are the gentlemen from Brighton crazy? Or did they not watch the news this morning? The negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait have collapsed! The price of crude oil will inevitably be affected, whether it is Middle Eastern crude oil, Brent crude oil, or even Mexican crude oil!'

His deputy, who had been brought from the port city by Sun Wei, asked him, 'Mr Sun, who made the decision? Was it Chairman Lin, Mr Tong Gang and Mr Li Cheng, or that Mainlander Zhou Ming who came out of nowhere?'

'It was that Mainlander Zhou Ming,' Sun Wei replied.

This answer made everyone around him look surprised, especially his deputy, who said, 'I told you that our Chairman Lin, who is so smart, would never make such a decision. Only those ignorant people from the mainland would say something like that. He can't be playing with futures like stocks, can he? Mr Sun, why don't we ignore him and just place the order ourselves, otherwise we'll continue to lose money.'

Everyone else agreed, 'That's right, Mr Sun, we all work for Chairman Lin, why should we listen to a Mainlander? We can make a sale and achieve results.'

Sun Wei shook his head and said, 'No, this is also Chairman Lin's decision.'

Everyone was stunned by his words, and they all spoke at once, 'How can this be? How could Chairman Lin make such a decision? Mr Sun, let's just place the order, shall we? After all, we are not in the office and we are not subject to orders. We are also thinking about the company. Otherwise, that Mainlander can just walk away, but we will still have to stay in the company and take the blame!'

Facing everyone's suggestions, Sun Wei waved his hand impatiently and said, 'That's enough, don't say anymore. Just do what Chairman Lin said. We have to trust Chairman Lin!'

After saying this, Sun Wei stood up from his chair and walked down the trading floor, shouting, 'I want to place a sell order for one million contracts. Does anyone want to buy?'

Sun Wei's words were like dropping a piece of beef in the Amazon River. The traders in the trading hall immediately pounced on him like piranhas that had smelled blood, and they all reached out to him, filling his ears with English of all kinds of accents.

'Chinese, I'm a trader at White Investment Company, I can buy your contract, I can buy 500,000 hands!'

'Chinese, I'm a trader at Chase Bank Investments. I can buy all your contracts, even if you want to add another one million lots, I can buy it. I can buy any crude oil!'

'Chinese, the price I offer will definitely be the highest. If you trade with me, it will be the fastest and most convenient...'

Looking at the countless hands reaching out in front of him, Sun Wei finally chose an investment company he was familiar with, and the others left disappointed.

'Sun, I'm curious. The entire trading floor is buying crude oil futures contracts, so why are you selling? And this isn't the first time you've sold. Didn't you see the morning news? There's been an incident in the Middle East, and negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait have broken down. The market will definitely be worried about whether crude oil production is stable, so future price increases are certain. Unless you want to hedge, of course, but with all due respect, your million contracts are completely impossible. Even if you add another million or five million, it won't make a difference.'

Since it was a familiar investment company and trader, the trader kindly told Sun Wei, while waiting for his sell order, that in his opinion Sun Wei's actions were undoubtedly very stupid.

Listening to the other person's advice, Sun Wei could only smile bitterly: 'I can't help it, it's all a decision from above.'

'I see, so it seems that your boss has received some information that we don't know about. But unfortunately, you are not the head of the alliance. But thank you for choosing me. This sell order of one million lots should allow me to extract a lot of commission.'

The trader smiled and said to Sun Wei, deliberately waving the documents on his hand, which made Sun Wei very uncomfortable. However, soon he couldn't laugh anymore, because he had just placed an order, and immediately someone else walked down the trading hall, shouting the same as Sun Wei: 'We want to place a sell order contract for crude oil futures, whether it's the Middle East, Brent or Mexico, are there any buyers? 10 million lots!'

Sun Wei had just returned to his seat. He and his whole team were very disheartened, but when he heard someone else shouting to place a sell order, he immediately stood up. He had a vague feeling that something was about to happen.

He looked around the trading hall and saw the same thing as he had just seen. The trader shouting was soon surrounded by traders from other companies, all of whom wanted to buy his futures contract.

Just as the trader here had just made his choice, someone else shouted the same thing from the other side of the trading hall: 'I want to place a sell order for crude oil futures!'

And almost at the same time, one after the other, someone in the trading hall shouted, 'I want to place a sell order for crude oil futures!'

It is said that three people make a tiger. The first person placing a sell order could be considered an accident, and the second and third could be considered coincidental, but what about the fourth, fifth and sixth? Even a fool can tell that something is wrong.

So when the tenth person shouted out a sell order, all the traders in the trading hall stopped blindly rushing in, and began to communicate with their respective supervisors.

'Mr Sun, could it be that there really is something wrong with the market? But didn't the news from the Middle East not long ago report that negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait had broken down? It's now around 6 to 7 pm Middle Eastern time, so even if talks restarted, they would probably not resume until tomorrow.'

Sun Wei's subordinates each voiced their doubts, but Sun Wei did not reply. He just stared blankly at the scene, then suddenly remembered something and looked back at the market.

At the moment, the price of light crude oil was still at 16.88 US dollars per barrel, and the price of heavy crude oil was also at 15.45 US dollars per barrel. However, it seemed to have been affected by the sell-off in the trading hall. Just a few minutes later, the prices of both crude oils had dropped, to 16.83 US dollars and 15.42 US dollars per barrel. Although the drop was very small, it still made Sun Wei's team ecstatic, because after all, it had dropped. They had bought the right ones, hadn't they?

'It's fallen, it's fallen, Mr Sun. The futures prices of these two crude oils have really fallen, not just Middle Eastern crude oil, but also Brent, Mexican and domestic crude oil prices. This is really incredible!'

Sun Wei's team's voices surrounded Sun Wei's ears, but he still didn't speak, because this scene brought back memories.

He thought back three years ago, when something similar seemed to have happened. It was still the time when the city was called Harbour City, and he was a junior broker in a futures company. At that time, Zhou Ming was also just an ignorant Mainlander who came to Harbour City with money to buy stock index futures, and he was his broker.

Sun Wei still remembers that at that time, Zhou Ming also placed a sell order at the peak of the Hong Kong stock market, believing that the Hong Kong stock index would plummet like a rock. At that time, he even laughed at him for being an idiot. However, that night, the U.S. stock market inexplicably crashed, which directly affected the Hong Kong stock market the next day, causing the Hong Kong stock market to crash as well. It was as if there was a divine will in the heavens.

The situation today is really similar to that time. Both were equally impossible, both were equally not favoured by others, both were equally ridiculed, and in the end, the result was the same.

This made Sun Wei suddenly think of a term he had read in a novel: the chosen one.

It means the person chosen by heaven. Otherwise, if it wasn't the case, how come whatever he said became the truth? And most importantly, he was always able to break through people's thinking, and in the end, fate would always be on his side.

Or perhaps his vision is just different, and he can always see what others cannot?

Sun Wei didn't know, or perhaps it was both, but in any case, Zhou Ming must be a very remarkable person. At the time, when Zhou Ming asked him to join the company, he felt that Zhou Ming was deliberately humiliating him. But now he understood that Zhou Ming was a truly great person, and only such a person could create miracles.

As Sun Wei was thinking this, his deputy reminded him, 'Mr Sun, look, the person you just saw has just arrived!'

Sun Wei came back to his senses and saw the trader who had just picked up his order come over again. He asked, 'Hey, Sun from China, this is incredible, you're a genius, how did you know the price would fall, did someone tell you the news?'

Facing this question, Sun Wei answered proudly, 'My boss told me the news, his name is Zhou Ming!'