America: My Time

Chapter 673 Shorting Gold
Chapter 663 Shorting Gold

Southern Group has more than just 7-Eleven convenience stores; it has many more assets. If all of them were listed, the profits would be staggering. The same goes for Forever Group. Just Victoria's Secret alone is impressive, not to mention its retail businesses, which are even more powerful, truly covering major cities around the world. It can be said that they are no less powerful than 7-Eleven convenience stores.

The American public is unaware of the astonishing assets of the Southern Group, because it's not just based in the US, but spans the globe, much like the Forever Group. People only see the Forever Group's luxury brands, not its fast-food brands, other brand portfolios, or the hidden retail operations. If the two groups were to go public as a whole, their market value would be beyond imagination, but that's impossible, because John isn't stupid; a full listing doesn't yield as much profit as a separate listing!

With John's words, Morgan could foresee that he would have a steady business in the coming years. The listing of John's companies alone would be enough to make them a fortune. Those bastards who opposed him would soon know why flowers are so red, and he could take the opportunity to eliminate some of his adversaries.

For a large corporation like Morgan, internal strife is never in short supply, so it's necessary to clean up those sycophants from time to time. After all, there are many people with vested interests behind those guys, and those bastards will do anything for profit.

After John also left Morgan's estate, some people quickly informed the people behind him about the time of John's departure. This exchange attracted a lot of attention: Europeans, Japanese guys, oil capitalists, Middle Eastern tycoons, and Americans themselves all wanted to know the secret behind it.

John's stake was so high that it attracted a lot of attention. When John left, Morgan Stanley intended to hold an internal exchange within the financial industry, but John refused. John knew that a lot of oil and gas capital would be involved, and he didn't want to deal with these guys anymore. Before they cooperated with him to complete the acquisition, John wouldn't have much contact with them. After all, these guys were not good people.

After the exchange, John didn't rush to leave New York. Instead, he waited for the White House's response. As expected, the White House agreed to John's proposal and was willing to cooperate with him. After all, it was beneficial to the United States, and they had no reason to refuse. Moreover, accepting John's proposal would also be advantageous to them.

After receiving a reply from the White House, John breathed a sigh of relief. Soon the Englishmen would suffer an even worse fate and face even greater pressure. There would be no problem or trouble in him establishing his authority over the Englishmen. Everything would be handled by the White House, and he only needed to fulfill his promise to the White House.

At this point, everyone was captivated by John's previous actions, and because of the agreement with Oilfield Capital, Hurricane Investment's move didn't attract much attention. However, Hurricane Investment was quietly entering the gold market to short it. Not only Hurricane Investment, but Standard Chartered Bank was also involved. John wasn't worried about the gold market fluctuations causing him trouble, because Quantum Mining held massive gold reserves and controlled world-class copper-gold mines. Shorting gold wouldn't put any pressure on him. If he didn't short gold, his losses would be significant; after all, a drop in gold prices would affect his assets. Shorting gold was the best way to cope.

Knowing full well that gold prices would fall, John would naturally make preparations to ensure that the interests of Quantum Mining, Standard Chartered Bank, and Chengxin Bank were not harmed. The three major banks that John now controls have a considerable amount of gold reserves in their vaults. Eighty percent of Quantum Mining's gold production goes into the banks' vaults, a fact that many people are unaware of.

It is precisely because of these actions that John now holds a considerable amount of gold reserves, both in Europe and Asia, as well as in the United States. It is also because Quantum Mining's gold has not fully entered the market that the price of gold has not been impacted. Moreover, the huge gold reserves give John enough confidence to short gold.

With John's careful arrangements, the three major banks sprang into action, as did Hurricane Investment. It could be said that all the financial power John controlled was mobilized at this moment. With Quantum Mining as its backing, John was not afraid of any risks. Even if any fluctuations occurred, he could resolve them perfectly. After all, he had such a huge amount of assets in his hands that he was not afraid of any pressure or danger.

"A margin call? Not a chance. Even if gold prices surge, it's not a big deal. We can just deliver enough gold to the other party. Quantum Mining is under considerable pressure right now. With its continuous expansion, it has acquired world-class gold and copper mines. Even if they're not fully operational, they'll still produce a significant amount of gold. A large influx into the market would only accelerate the decline in gold prices. So John isn't worried about any problems with shorting gold. 'Tianfan, that's right. Everything is proceeding according to plan. Don't worry. We'll contact you again if there are any issues. With gold reserves in the vault, we have enough confidence to face any crisis. If gold prices rise to a certain level, we can sell some of our gold reserves to cash out and preserve value!' John calmly answered the call from Hong Kong."

"Yes, boss, I'll arrange everything!" Yuan Tianfan breathed a sigh of relief after receiving John's reply. Although the price of gold was falling, investing such a large amount of money to short gold made him, the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, somewhat worried. After all, Standard Chartered Bank was facing many investments and its own development needs. Under such circumstances, one wrong move could lead to an irrecoverable predicament.

Everyone knows how important gold reserves are to every bank. Without John's permission, he wouldn't dare to use Standard Chartered's gold reserves rashly. After all, selling gold is easy, but buying it back is not. Commodity transactions are not something you can just do whenever you want, especially precious metals like gold. Once sold, it's extremely difficult to buy it back. No bank is willing to take such a risk.

What most banks wouldn't dare to do isn't a big problem for John, because he controls a mining giant like Quantum Mining, which also has substantial gold reserves. So John has no worries or concerns at this time.

Although there are some minor fluctuations in the market, it's insignificant. Everything is under control, and even significant fluctuations won't affect the profits from shorting gold. With a mining giant like Quantum Mining and vast gold reserves, there's nothing to fear. At this point, all that's needed is to quickly complete shorting operations within the limits of one's gold reserves; there's no need for worry.

Even outsiders today don't know how much gold reserves John has in the vaults of his three major banks. This is something many financial institutions want to know, but unfortunately, they can't. John has kept this secret tightly under wraps, preventing outsiders from finding out. This enormous gold reserve is enough for the banks to cope with any crisis.

However, keeping this secret indefinitely is impossible. Once those guys have a thorough understanding of the quantum mining situation, they can estimate the gold reserves held by the three major banks, but that will take time. Of course, this short-selling operation cannot be kept secret forever either. When those financial institutions realize that the short-selling force is growing stronger, a little investigation will reveal John's actions, and at that point, a major battle might break out.

Despite John's astonishing influence in the financial markets, many people are skeptical. Therefore, his plan to short gold will inevitably be thwarted by other forces. John is well aware of this, and that's why Quantum Mining, Hurricane Investment, and the three major banks have made comprehensive preparations to cope with any crisis.

With gold mines and gold reserves at their disposal, John didn't believe he would fail. Moreover, this dramatic shift in gold prices wasn't as simple as it seemed on the surface; the Americans played a crucial role. Without sufficient resources, rashly entering this gold price crash could easily result in total financial ruin.

Time is of the essence, and it needs to be completed quickly. Moreover, there are quite a few people entering the market now. No one expected John to choose such a time to complete his feat of shorting gold, let alone that John would go so far. Compared to the communication with Hong Kong on the train, the operation in the United States has already begun, and it is being carried out in batches. Most of the operation has been completed, and now it is just taking more precautions.

After hanging up the phone, John smiled faintly. He was very satisfied with Yuan Tianfan's performance. Even when he gave orders, Yuan would carefully assess the situation from Standard Chartered Bank's perspective. This cautious approach was essential for long-term success in the financial industry. In contrast, the situation in Japan was different. They were better at execution because these guys had no ulterior motives and only knew how to follow orders. Their execution ability was strong, but they were much weaker in other areas, which greatly limited their autonomy.

(End of this chapter)