Reborn in America, I am a legendary short seller on Wall Street.

Chapter 115 Colt Suspended

Monday, October 2.

Larry arrived at the Boston branch of Paine Weber Company at nine o'clock in the morning and went straight to Mr. Wallace's office.

Mr. Wallace was drinking tea in his office when he saw Larry arrive. He quickly put his teacup down on the table and stood up.

“Mr. Wallace, I need to take leave, at least for a week.”

Mr. Wallace frowned, waved his hand, and said, "Do I need to ask you about this? Go do your work. I'll arrange for someone else to do your job, and you'll still get paid!"

Larry smiled and nodded, thinking to himself that Mr. Wallace was being too polite.

“However…” Mr. Wallace frowned and said, “If you’re staying in Boston, you’d better come back every day, otherwise I won’t be able to reach you if something comes up. By the way, Larry, did you know? Colt is suspended from trading. It involves significant information that needs to be disclosed, and the NYSE needs Colt to provide information on all its financing plans.”

Larry paused for a moment, then nodded emphatically.

This news was not unexpected.

In order to prevent stock price volatility or the impact of major news on the stock market, the NYSE often decides to temporarily close the NYSE or suspend trading of individual stocks.

The New York Stock Exchange was first shut down entirely in April 1865, when it closed for a week to avoid political turmoil following the assassination of President Lincoln.

In September 1873, the bankruptcy of Jay Cook & Co., a well-known American investment bank, due to failed speculation in railroad bonds triggered a chain reaction in the market, leading to a financial panic at the New York Stock Exchange.

Given the dire situation at the time, the New York Stock Exchange was shut down entirely for the first time in its history due to market panic, lasting for 10 days.

The stock market closure was intended to prevent the spread of panic and avoid the collapse of more financial institutions.

Of course, the complete closure of the NYSE is rare, but the suspension of individual stock trading is quite common.

For example, if a company encounters operational risks, announces a dividend plan, or even needs to clarify rumors, it may trigger a temporary suspension of trading.

For example, Colt's case was a typical financing project. After the relevant corporate bond announcement was issued, everything proceeded normally, and there was no need to suspend trading of the stock.

However, Mr. Morgan injected Winchester Firearms into Colt's assets, which changed the nature of the entire project from a simple financing to a corporate restructuring.

After Winchester Firearms was privatized, its stock had to be delisted; and there were many legal procedures to go through before the company could be injected into Colt.

Therefore, Colt's stock will be suspended from trading starting this week, and the specific date for resumption of trading is unknown.

Mr. Wallace wasn't worried about Colt's stock price rising after the market opened; he was just curious about how much it would rise in the future...

Larry laughed and said he wasn't entirely sure either, but the rise shouldn't be less than 50 points.

Mr. Wallace's eye twitched slightly when he heard about the "50-point" increase, and he immediately began to calculate in his mind how much money he could make from his 1500 shares...

As he calculated, Mr. Wallace smiled.
.
As Larry left Mr. Wallace's office, he ran into William Boeing again.

William scratched the back of his head, feeling embarrassed, and asked Larry about Henry Ford's condition. Only after Larry told him that Mr. Ford was alright did a relieved smile appear on his face.

“Thank goodness… otherwise I would have blamed myself for it. However, in my opinion, his internal combustion engine is still not mature enough and has too little power!” William Boeing muttered.

Larry smiled and offered him a few words of encouragement before returning to his office to pack his clothes and luggage, preparing to go to the Metropolitan Casino later.

Excluding the stock in Reading's account, Larry currently has the following cash at his disposal:

The $1.79 lying in his Boston First National Bank account was the profit that Logan had previously saved for him from going long on Carnegie.
In addition, the apartment safe originally contained $3500. Because Larry likes to round up, he added another $1500 from his wallet, so the safe now has $5000 in readily available cash. He also gave Mr. K $1000 over the weekend to hire people, so Larry now only has $465 in cash in his wallet.

The money isn't a lot, but it's enough if you're going to make a deal with a gambling den!

The information I received from Mr. K on Sunday was that the Metropolitan Casino was indeed owned by the Rothschild gang. However, because the Metropolitan Casino was also a popular place for Boston gentry to launder money, there were no restrictions on trading positions, and since its establishment, there had never been a case where a client profited and the casino refused to pay.

The Rostan gang wasn't as scary as Marco had imagined; its main business was money laundering and lending.

Unless there are troublesome matters such as someone coming to collect protection money, the Rostan Gang will not interfere with normal gambling operations.

With this information, Larry felt more at ease about what he was about to do.

Today, Larry is going back to his loyal betting firm to make a deal, not to make a lot of money, but to figure out what loopholes the Metropolitan Betting Firm has that he can exploit.

Larry deliberately dressed more casually and in a more "youthful" style today.

He wore a fedora cap, a light gray short casual blazer, a thick turtleneck sweater, cotton khaki pants, and soft-soled boots.

He looks just like a college student going to Harvard.

Of course, Larry also wore a concealed gun sling under his jacket, carrying his M1889 Bodeio Italian pistol loaded with six bullets.

Unfortunately, he couldn't retrieve his revolver from the police station.

Dressed neatly, Larry made sure to put $150 in change in his pants pocket before slowly walking out of Paine Weber Securities.

Larry strolled around the streets for a while, and when he figured it was about time, he stepped into the Metropolitan Casino.

It was 9:50 a.m., and the Metropolitan Casino was already bustling with activity.

Customers from various industries in Boston arrived at the lobby early, some not even there to gamble, but simply to grab a cup of sweetened black tea as a break between work.

But most places treat all these people equally, generously providing them with free tea and drinks.

Customers, holding beer and black tea, sat smiling in front of the price board, waiting for the market to open.

Larry found a corner seat, and the moment his bottom touched the floor, a waiter in a red vest approached with a tray, half-squatting down to ask in a friendly tone.
"Sir! Tea or beer?"

Larry glanced at the waiter, then suddenly thought of a joke and said with a faint smile, "A cup of coffee, please!"

The waiter was taken aback, as if he hadn't expected someone to order cheap coffee instead of expensive black tea, and didn't know how to respond.

However, this moment of surprise only lasted a few seconds before the waiter nodded and smiled, "Okay, please wait a moment!"

Larry raised an eyebrow. He had just made a joke, but he didn't expect them to actually go and prepare coffee. However, he knew that the coffee must have something else going on.

A short while later, the waiter brought the coffee.

Larry thanked him, took the bag, and took a small sip...

Good grief, they added at least twice the amount of sugar to the black tea! The coffee tastes sour now!

Larry felt that after drinking this cup of coffee, he would need at least two more cups of insulin to neutralize the cloying sweetness.

(End of this chapter)