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

Chapter 283 A Major Buying Spree in US Tobacco Market
May 2nd, Monday. 10:15 AM.

Matthew rushed to visit Henry Goldman of Goldman Sachs. It was a pre-arranged visit, and he wanted to resolve the matter of testing firearms in Texas as soon as possible.

Matthew went up to the Goldman Sachs office on the second floor. Led by an employee at the door, he arrived at Henry Goldman's office, found the door open, and went inside.

The faint smell of cigars filled Goldman's office. He leaned back against his mahogany desk, his fingertips tapping on a yellowed list of railroad bonds, but his eyes were fixed on the blue sky outside the window, lost in thought.

Matthew knocked on the door, deliberately making a noise as he entered the office. He still looked lifeless, as if he were engrossed in observation.

“Mr. Goldman,” Matthew greeted him, adjusting his hat with great respect.

“Mr. Livingston sent me to check on the Texas trip. He said you’ve arranged everything. Oh, if that’s the case, that’s wonderful! You know, this test will determine the fate of the next generation of rifles, and it’s something that can’t be missed.”

Goldman seemed not to hear him. After a while, he turned his gaze to Matthew, forcing a smile. "I have always admired your brother. He can always smell money in the air."

Matthew raised an eyebrow, unaware of what Henry Goldman was talking about.

However, Henry Goldman waved his hand with a smile, "Oh, don't take it to heart. I was just saying... um, getting ready to head to Texas, right?"

As he spoke, Henry Goldman stood up and pointed to the map of the United States on his wall.

There, he marked the no-man's-land in Texas and the other two states with a heavy red circle.

“I think we can leave this week,” Henry Goldman said, staring at the circle before turning his head toward the Gulf of Mexico.

"The cargo will dock in New Orleans around May 10th. You can go back to Boston to prepare, and if possible, you can leave there this Friday. I have already prepared all the company documents."

Matthew mentally calculated the time and figured he should make it. He nodded in agreement. "Then, Mr. Goldman, will you be coming with us?"

Henry Goldman hesitated for a moment, and his usual shrewdness vanished from his face.

He glanced at Matthew and suddenly asked, "Is Mr. Livingston going?"

“That’s hard to say. Larry may have some things to take care of. I heard him say that he may have to go to Rochester.”

Hearing Matthew's words, Goldman clearly felt some regret. After thinking for a moment, he said...
“Mr. Browning, how about this? If Mr. Livingston goes as well, I will naturally be there. Because… because there are some things I need to explain to him in person.”

Matthew felt something was off. Henry Goldman's words clearly implied that he wanted him to relay the message to Larry, as if it were a tactful request.

“Mr. Goldman, I don’t know if Larry Livingston is going or not. Well, I’ll check with him again later and then give you a definite answer,” Matthew replied.

Henry Goldman slowly forced a smile onto his face. He went behind the table and began to prepare the various documents for the gun testing range, categorizing them and handing them to Matthew one by one according to the registration form, while also explaining the precautions.

So the two began to settle the company documents, licenses and bills of lading.

Once he got into work mode, Henry Goldman gradually regained his previous shrewdness and confidence. Fifteen minutes later, all the documents had been handed over, and Matthew stood up to say goodbye to Henry Goldman.

Henry Goldman insisted on escorting him to the company entrance.

As the two approached the entrance of Goldman Sachs, a Goldman Sachs employee hurried over. Looking at Henry Goldman, he quickly raised his voice and said...

“Mr. Goldman, didn’t you tell me to let you know as soon as I had any news? We’ve found out that the person who placed the order at National City Bank in New York was actually…”

Henry Goldman glared at him sternly, stopping the employee's conversation, then turned to Matthew and said, "You see, I'm quite busy right now. So, I'm afraid I can only take you this far. I've already sent someone to Texas to guide you; you can contact him anytime you get there. Also, my office phone and telegram are always at your service."

"Thank you, thank you so much!" Matthew sincerely expressed his gratitude, then said goodbye and went down the stairs.

As Matthew went downstairs, he had a strange feeling, as if Henry Goldman was stopping his staff from speaking in order to prevent him from hearing what happened next.

He went down to the first floor of the stairs, but instead of rushing out, he listened intently to the conversation coming from the second floor.

Henry Goldman was still at the top of the stairs, and the two were talking quietly.

The two spoke in hushed tones, so softly that Matthew only vaguely heard one of the names—James Stillman.

The reason we heard this name was because Henry Goldman repeated it once, clearly very surprised.

Immediately, the sounds from the second floor ceased, and Henry Goldman and his staff hurriedly returned to Goldman Sachs.

Matthew frowned. He didn't understand what the name meant, but there was no point in him staying. He planned to tell Larry when he had the chance.

Matthew left the building, rented a horse-drawn carriage, and rushed to Reading Securities, located at the border of Midtown and Uptown New York City.

Larry is here today to check stocks because it's close to the train station.

At noon, they would take the train together back to Boston.

Upon entering Reading, Matthew immediately spotted Larry Livingston sitting in the VIP seat, next to whom was Hart Berg, the plenipotentiary representative of the Belgian company FN.

Larry was looking at stock quotes while chatting casually with the Belgian.

When Larry saw Matthew return, he smiled, stood up and greeted Matthew, “My brother, I’ve been waiting for you! I even thought you would miss the 12:25 train.”

Matthew glanced at the clock on the wall; it was already 11:20 a.m., and time was indeed running out.

He first greeted Hart Berg, who had rushed over, before turning to Larry and saying, "Mr. Goldman has made very detailed arrangements. I'm also very anxious about the time, but I didn't want to interrupt Henry Goldman's good intentions."
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Larry nodded, patted Matthew on the shoulder, and turned to call Hart Berg to get up and head to the train station. But as Matthew and the Belgian stood up to leave, he stopped, turned back, smiled apologetically at Matthew.

"Please wait a moment, it's almost 11:30. I want to take another look. The stock price change at this point in time often determines the subsequent trend."

The Belgian was the first to speak, "Look at you, there's nothing to apologize for! To be honest, after your explanation, I'm now very interested in the patterns of stock price fluctuations!"

"The theory of least resistance? Haha, okay, Mr. Berg! Remember to pay your tuition!"

"no problem."

Larry smiled and nodded, then stood on the open ground of Reading Company, looking at the price list and waiting for GE's latest offer.

At that moment, Bernard Baruch, the front desk manager of Reading Company, walked over with a smile and said to Larry, "Mr. Livingston, are you leaving already? I thought you were going to place another order for some American Tobacco stock today."

Larry noticed that GE's quote hadn't been updated, so he turned to look at Baruch. In just one glance, Larry realized that the smile on Baruch's face was genuine, the kind of smile that couldn't be suppressed.

Larry looked at him and asked jokingly, "Why are you so happy today? You must have made some money, right? Tell me! Any good stock recommendations? Let's make some money together!"

Baruch tried to suppress the corners of his mouth, but still smiled and said, "Am I that obvious? Well... it's nothing, I just saw that GE had fallen too much on Saturday, so I just bought some to buy on the dip."

Larry raised his eyebrows, a delighted smile on his face. "Congratulations! I saw this stock surge today; you're sure to make a fortune."

Baruch didn't feign refusal, nor did he pursue the topic of General Electric further; he simply smiled and changed the subject.
"If you still want to buy American Tobacco, I can place an order for you! Because American Tobacco has been fluctuating around three dollars recently, it may not have the strength to break through now, but it should also not have room to fall."

"Oh, what do you mean?" Larry hadn't been paying much attention to American Tobacco's stock price lately, but after hearing Baruch's words, he turned to look at a corner of the price chart, where the latest price for American Tobacco was $2.78.

Baruch pointed to the latest price of American Tobacco and said, "This stock can't fall any further! Just like JP Morgan's General Electric. Every stock has its own characteristics, and the price can't possibly fall below the bottom and drop to China. Once it reaches its extreme price, it's not easy for it to continue falling!"

Larry stared at American Tobacco for a moment, then turned to Bernard Baruch and said, "Alright, get the transaction slip. I'm planning to buy another 4 shares."

Baruch did as instructed, taking a transaction slip from the counter and then the Parker gold pen he had just rewarded himself with from his suit jacket pocket, handing them both to Larry.

Larry sat in the front seat, spread the transaction form on the table, and was about to fill it out when he heard Reading's price quote clerk loudly announce General Electric's latest price.

"General Electric, oh my God! This stock has broken through $155, the latest price is $156 3/4!!"

The quoting agent's shouts elicited gasps from the customers in the room, which then turned into a chaotic murmur of discussion.

Clearly, none of them expected General Electric's stock to surge so dramatically today.

As Larry heard that GE's stock price had broken through $156, a smile unconsciously crept onto his face.

This means that each of his 3 shares bought at the bottom price has yielded a profit of over $116! With just this one move, his unrealized profit in his stock account is already close to $350 million.

This is an astonishing number!
Larry even regretted not buying more stocks at the bottom of the market—yes! If he had bought more at the bottom, his unrealized profits might have doubled or even doubled again!
However, Larry comforted himself by saying that one should be content.

How many greedy people, just because they heard a word from a big shot on the street over the weekend, have bet their entire fortune on shorting General Electric?

He's already made a lot of money; this is insider trading, and he's the one controlling the market. But clearly, all the money he's made comes from those who shorted the market.

Larry felt no guilt towards them, because that's a basic quality of a stock market tycoon: cold-blooded, and business is business.

What impressed Larry most was another point – “not being greedy” is truly a good habit.

As Bernard Baruch said, if it weren't for greed leading to a rash decision, who would have shorted General Electric around $40?

It's just that some people are always thinking about making money, but they can't see the fishhook behind the ear fungus.

Thinking of this, Larry smiled and shook his head, thinking to himself, "Well, it's already pretty good to have earned this much!"
Not being greedy just means you won't earn more, but being greedy will lead to your demise.

Larry smiled as he filled out the transaction form for American Tobacco, but instead of the 4 shares he originally planned to buy, he doubled and doubled again.

“Mr. Baruch,” Ali said with a smile, handing him the trading order, “don’t I have four times leverage here? Well then, American Tobacco will buy 16 shares for me. My margin should be enough, right?”

“Don’t worry, there shouldn’t be any problem!” Bernard looked at the transaction slip, then suddenly said, “If there’s a margin shortage, where should I go to find you?”

Larry thought for a moment, then beckoned Dunbar over, took the small leather suitcase he was keeping under his arm, and handed a document inside to Bernard Baruch.

"...I don't need this right now. I'll just leave it with you for now!"

Bernard Baruch took the document, and after reading only two lines, a look of extreme horror appeared on his face. He blushed and looked at Larry.
"Mr. Livingston, you... I..."

Larry smiled and waved at him, stopping him from continuing. "Anyway, your brokerage firm also has custody services... just leave this document here. If you don't have enough margin, you can handle it."

Baruch swallowed hard and nodded, saying, "Rest assured, Mr. Livingston. You will always be our most valued customer."

"Good luck to you! And good luck to me too!" Larry smiled and waved goodbye to Baruch, then led a few people out of the Reading Company.

Baruch looked at Larry's back with a sense of awe for the first time.

(End of this chapter)