The Great Sage Returns from Ten Years of Imprisonment

At 9:30 p.m., the US stock market opened on time.

The next instant, a chorus of exclamations suddenly erupted in the trading area.

"Holy crap! Lehman Brothers stock opened down more than 10% again. It's going to become worthless!"

"Judging by this trend, Lehman Brothers' stock is going to plummet by about 50% tonight. That's terrible!"

Before the excited exclamations could even subside, Lehman Brothers' stock price plummeted by about 5%, heading straight for the circuit breaker to be triggered.

Ling Yun glanced at the Lehman Brothers stock chart and curled his lip in disdain.

"Forget about this junk stock. Even a miracle couldn't save Lehman Brothers. It's not our target tonight!..."

As he spoke, he casually clicked on the stock charts of Merrill Lynch and AIG Group to check the performance of these two financial stocks.

Similar to the trend of Lehman Brothers' stock, these two stocks are also falling rapidly, only the decline is not as dramatic.

Not only them, but almost all financial stocks in the European and American financial markets are falling.

The investment banking sector suffered the most severe decline, followed by the banking and insurance sectors, as if they were competing to dive from high platforms!

Unlike the financial sector, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices saw only minor declines, driven by a general rise in energy stocks.

Overall, the stock markets in Europe and the United States appear peaceful tonight.

But countless investors deeply involved in the financial sector truly understand what a terrifying storm is brewing beneath the seemingly calm surface!

The numerous traders who had just received the full short-selling order were busy making trades with their fingers flying across the keyboard.

Their trading targets were the stocks of major financial institutions that were all falling sharply.

Meanwhile, Yuanda Hong Kong Island branch is doing the same thing.

Several investment teams under CIC and CICC have already set out in different places, but the scale of their investments is much smaller!

Seeing the bustling scene in the trading area, everyone's hearts grew increasingly excited.

Looking at Ling Yun, he was leisurely leaning back in his chair, drinking tea and chatting while keeping an eye on the movements of the international financial market.

From the moment the US stock market opened, numerous traders from both investment teams were continuously increasing their positions and aggressively shorting major European and American financial institutions.

In this situation, the mastermind behind it all naturally doesn't need to get involved personally.

Soon, it was around 11:30 p.m.

Just then, a trader next to him suddenly shouted a reminder.

Merrill Lynch's stock price has fallen to $17.1 and is still declining, though at a slower pace.

Ling Yun immediately sat up straight, opened the Merrill Lynch stock chart, and quickly glanced at it.

Sure enough! Merrill Lynch's stock price was about to hit the liquidation line.

The next moment, Ling Yun swiftly issued a transaction command.

"Start closing out positions; sell all short positions in Merrill Lynch, leaving none."

"After completing the liquidation, remain silent for half an hour, then proceed with the plan to fully reverse the short position and go long on Merrill Lynch."

"The entry price for a long position is $17, and the position must be established before 4 AM."

As soon as the words were spoken, the investment team responsible for handling Merrill Lynch stock responded immediately.

"Got it, watch us!"

As they spoke, they quickly sprang into action and began closing out their positions.

Ling Yun put down the microphone, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and continued to sit calmly, leisurely directing and watching the show.

About an hour later, another piece of good news arrived.

AIG Group's stock price has fallen by more than 30% and continues to decline without any sign of stopping.

By this time, the two investment teams under Ling Yun's command had already completed their position building, each investing $500 million with leverage of about five times, and aggressively shorting AIG Group.

Despite a mere 30% drop, the two investment teams have already doubled their short-selling profits, with total profits approaching $1.5 billion and still growing rapidly.

Faced with this result, everyone was so excited that they danced with joy.

If Lingyun hadn't smiled and stopped everyone, told them to stay calm, and said that the subsequent profits would be even more amazing, and not to be swayed by the immediate gains, it would have been a different story.

Director Xie and his team had already ordered the positions to be closed, securing their profits from this short-selling move!

At this point, no one had any doubt about Lingyun's investment decision, and naturally they resolutely carried it out!

About half an hour later, Lehman Brothers' stock price plummeted by more than 50%, and it looked like it was about to become worthless!

Just then, a series of rumors suddenly circulated in the international financial market.

The first rumor was that large financial institutions such as American Bank and Barclays were in contact with Lehman Brothers to discuss acquisition.

The second rumor that followed was that the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve were actively pushing for a potential deal involving Lehman Brothers.

The third rumor is that major financial institutions on Wall Street are in urgent discussions to jointly fund the formation of a massive stabilization fund.

Once this stabilization fund is established, its first target for rescue will be Lehman Brothers, which will take over a large amount of its non-performing assets.

Driven by these news items and the technical demand for a rebound after a sharp drop, Lehman Brothers' stock finally began to rebound and rise.

By the time the US stock market closed at 4 a.m., Lehman Brothers' losses had narrowed to around -14%.

The rebound was quite significant, but Ling Yun remained unmoved, simply sitting and watching the show with a disdainful expression, doing nothing at all!

He knew better than anyone that this rebound was nothing more than a temporary resurgence!

Before you knew it, it was already four in the morning.

The dramatic and exhilarating six and a half hours finally came to an end, and the US stock market closed.

The US stock market tonight is highly polarized.

Almost all other sectors, led by energy stocks, rose, directly driving up the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices, creating a generally positive atmosphere.

Specifically in the financial sector, however, the situation is bleak and bloody!

The real decisive factor that led the global economy into the abyss of the financial crisis was precisely the financial sector, and those once-glorious financial institutions.

As soon as the US stock market closed, Director Xie and his team immediately came to Ling Yun's side to report on the evening's trading.

"The task of building positions in stock index futures in Europe and the United States has been successfully completed. Due to the rebound in US stocks at the end of the trading day, we suffered a slight loss on US stock index futures."

"Merrill Lynch closed at $17.05, successfully completing the long position establishment. Now we're just waiting for the big news over the weekend."

"AIG's stock price has fallen by 31%. Based on the trend analysis, a further sharp drop next week is almost a certainty. If another major event catalyzes this, the decline will be even more astonishing..."

Listening to the report from General Manager Xie and his team, Ling Yun nodded with satisfaction.

At six o'clock in the morning, just as the sun was rising above the eastern horizon, Ling Yun left the CIC headquarters by car and headed straight for Financial Street.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ocean.

U.S. Treasury building, Treasury Secretary's office.

Paulson sat in the boss's chair, staring at the US stock market charts that had just closed, remaining silent for a long time.

After thinking for about ten minutes, he picked up a landline on his desk and started calling the Oval Office in the White House.

The call was answered quickly, and after identifying himself, he got straight to the point.

"Mr. President, the problems in the financial markets are far more serious than we imagine. We may very well be facing an unprecedented global financial crisis!"

"The destructive power of this financial crisis is no less than that of the 1929 global economic crisis. What's worse, we were not prepared to deal with it..."

The cowboy president, sitting in the Oval Office, also fell silent.

After a long silence, he said in a deep voice:

"I trust your judgment, Henry. If you believe this financial crisis is inevitable, then we must face the outcome!"