Chapter 632 It’s New Year 3 again
Chapter 632 It’s New Year’s Eve again
As the first major bank to announce its losses from US subprime mortgages, it is bound to be under considerable pressure.
It should be because the senior executives of the British Bank of Exchange Winds were worried about angering Wall Street for the sake of their business in North America.
In fact, Huifeng Bank's losses were more than just US$18 billion. In order to avoid offending others, it temporarily concealed some of its bad debts to prevent the announcement of losses of tens of billions of dollars at one time, which would have offended Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and the Federal Reserve.
However, as one of the largest banks in the world, the news that Huifeng Bank suffered huge losses in the North American subprime mortgage market caused a huge stir for a while.
Many people instantly thought of the Weibo posts that Fan Wumian released some time ago and began to think about the worst, worrying that other "prophecies" would also come true and that a new round of financial crisis was really brewing.
Countless investors were happily preparing for the New Year, but faced with these bad news, they felt a little depressed for a while.
But they lack understanding of the current economic situation and cannot make an accurate judgment, so they are just a little depressed. Anyway, the A-shares are closed and the exchanges will be closed for the next few days, so it will not prevent these people from having a good New Year.
Many practitioners in the financial industry have more comprehensive information and are well aware that Huifeng Bank would not suffer such a huge loss for no reason. They speculate that something very critical must have happened.
For example, Fan Wumian quietly shorted Huifeng Bank and US subprime mortgage companies. These projects did not need to be disclosed to the public and the outside world had no way of knowing about them. However, after he became the actual controller of Boshi Fund, he did make drastic adjustments to his positions before the New Year.
Previously, A-shares had been rising well for many days in a row, and the share prices of many companies were brought down by the massive sell orders from the BoShi Fund, which seemed to mean "running away even if losing money."
In addition, some powerful experts, after carefully studying the size of the US subprime mortgage market and combining it with US real estate sales data and Wall Street's desperate efforts to sell subprime mortgage products to the global market, have sensed danger and are suspecting that there is really a "great terror" in the market.
As long as the US subprime mortgage market really collapses, the "gray rhino" mentioned by Fan Wumian in his post will most likely run rampant and affect the global economy.
This resulted in Fan Wumian being unable to get a good rest on New Year's Eve.
There was an inconspicuous old Audi A6 parked in front of his house, and several think tank members specializing in international situations and global economy came to him to find out the situation.
All I can say is that as members of the country's top think tank, these experts are always accustomed to preparing for the worst. In fact, they have been wary of subprime mortgages and came to consult Fan Wumian to see if they can get other key information.
Because he opened two hedge fund companies on Wall Street and had channels to contact the local upper circles in the United States, these think tanks felt it necessary to come and ask. After all, they all lived nearby, so it would be great to be able to get key information, but even if they couldn't get it, it didn't matter. They could just take the opportunity to move around and contribute to the work of attracting investment.
Fan Wumian was not able to reveal much information, only that they needed to be wary of the ups and downs of the stock market and that it might be pulled apart by the tide of the U.S. dollar. He also hoped to raise some funds and try his luck in the U.S. market.
Investment matters are not the responsibility of these think tanks, Fan Wumian is just taking the opportunity to give it a try.
Unexpectedly, someone really came to the door in the afternoon of the same day after the request was made, and said that they would give a total of US$3 million to Fan Wumian to help manage in the name of two Hong Kong city companies, and were willing to accept a 2% management fee and a 20% performance commission in accordance with industry regulations.
It is obvious that those think tanks agreed with Fan Wumian's investment philosophy and seized the opportunity to take advantage of it, wanting to help the official enterprises make some money at the same time.
After hearing the news, Fan Wumian was instantly mentally prepared to not allow any loss of the 3 million US dollars, even if it meant swell-upening. He would make up the difference out of his own pocket.
After all, doing asset management business in the mainland inevitably involves dealing with major official enterprises. Once these two "Hong Kong city" companies lose money and Fan Wumian's reputation is ruined in the eyes of some people, the loss will be too great in the long run.
Living in a two-story courtyard building on the northern edge of Houhai, people would come from time to time without notice. Among them were financial journalists, colleagues in the asset management circle, and more people from the entertainment and business circles.
For example, the owner of the construction company that undertook the Deyunshe crosstalk base project specially sent Fan Wumian several boxes of aged Fenjiu, as well as dried goods such as sea cucumbers, ginseng, and deer antlers. He had no intention of disturbing him, but left immediately after putting down the things, just to express his thoughts.
In addition, there were Yang Mi and Liu Shishi. Knowing that Fan Wumian had no relatives in Yanjing, they also went to deliver some New Year's goods.
An old man living in a nearby alley saw the constant stream of people coming to Fan Wumian's house and was so envious that he wrapped himself in a big cotton coat and said in a literary way while drinking tea, "If you are poor in a busy city, no one will care about you. If you are rich in the mountains, you will have distant relatives." The long-awaited prelude to the subprime mortgage collapse has finally begun to appear.
Fan Wumian was a little excited, but with the arrival of the Spring Festival, the A-share market was put on hold and the U.S. stock market also ushered in the weekend, so the specific benefits were not yet clear.
During the two-day weekend, the U.S. stock market might digest some of the negative news, resulting in less destructive power and causing Fan Wumian to benefit less than expected.
It is also possible that other short sellers will join forces to cause a sharp drop in U.S. stocks at opening next Monday, directly dragging down the two U.S. subprime mortgage companies in which Fan Wumian has heavy holdings.
The market will certainly be impacted by the huge negative news of Huifeng Bank's bankruptcy. Making money is basically certain. The only question is how much or how little. There are still many uncertainties for the time being.
The evening of New Year’s Eve.
Fan Wumian took some time off to call the girls one by one to reminisce about the past.
Zhuang Muxi and Zuo Ziyan were at home with their parents, and Feng Ying'er had also gone to Australia to be with her family, so he didn't need to worry about anything.
Guo Biting and other members of the group went to Hubei Radio and Television to rehearse and prepare for the New Year's Eve party, so there was no need to worry.
After looking around, only Jane Zhang, who is participating in the Spring Festival Gala, has a chance to come and see Fan Wumian tonight. However, the relationship between the two is more like a purely fun one. Just like Gao Yuanyuan, he does not want it to develop to an overly intimate level.
Last year I was busy performing on the Spring Festival Gala, but today I am just joining in the fun as an audience member, and I feel much more relaxed.
Before the show officially started, Fan Wumian went backstage first to greet Gangzi, Uncle Qian and Jane Zhang respectively, and then sat down at the round table specially arranged for him. Beside him were Wang Baoqiang, Xu Zheng, Yang Mi, Liu Yifei and others.
Liu Yifei took a look and suddenly asked in a low voice:
"The day before yesterday, I met your assistant at the doorstep. I said I wanted to bring her a set of skin care products that I endorse. Assistant Pu, isn't here tonight? I'll deliver it to her tomorrow?"
Fan Wumian smiled and said:
"She didn't go home for the New Year last year. I gave her a day off at noon today. She flew back to Shenzhen and will come here on the eighth day of the New Year. But I may not be in Yanjing by then. I'll give it to her next time I have a chance. I may be a little busy in the next few days."
Despite her status, Yang Mi, who was still a little green, seemed a little stressed when facing Liu Yifei and interrupted her:
"Are you the spokesperson for Zishengtang? I saw your photos online, and they took such beautiful photos of you!"
Hearing this, Liu Yifei also became excited and started to introduce how great the photographer hired by the advertising company was.
Wang Baoqiang was not good at speaking, so he smiled and handed a handful of melon seeds to Fan Wumian, saying:
"Boss, are you eating melon seeds? Lost on Journey has been very popular recently. A lot of people went to watch it during the holidays. The box office was so high that it surpassed all American movies by a large margin. The boss is the boss. He has a great vision. He has already finished filming the second part before the first part was released."
Xu Zheng kicked Wang Baoqiang and reminded him:
"The camera will scan us at any time. It's not good to be busy eating melon seeds. What if something gets stuck between your teeth? Do you want to be laughed at from the first day of the Chinese New Year to the end of the year? Be a little restrained tonight. Just smile and wave when you see the camera."
Wang Baoqiang said excitedly:
"It's okay. I'm being careful. All the neighbors in the village will see me tonight. It will be very face-saving when I go home for the New Year."
(End of this chapter)