Chapter 184: Earn some Pocket Money

Leaving the port of La Porte, Texas, Liang Yao took Vanderbilt's ship and headed for New York, the largest city in the United States, with his gold. Google search reading

On the way to New York, Liang Yao came up with the idea of ​​​​New York gold.

This was not his impromptu idea, but the early financial market, even the most mature London financial market at the same time, was full of loopholes.

Based on the information Henry collected for him, Liang Yao was pleasantly surprised to find that there were gold futures on the trading market on Wall Street in New York.

Futures did not originate in New York, the most economically developed city in the United States, but in Chicago during the Western Development in the 1930s and 1940s.

It is no accident that futures originated in Chicago. Chicago is a distribution center for materials, and one of the most important materials is food.

Food production is seasonal, but people's demand for food is not seasonal.

Every time when grain is harvested, the grain inventory in the local market in Chicago greatly exceeds market demand, causing the price of grain to fall again and again.

In the following spring, there was insufficient food on the market, but people's demand for food did not decrease. Therefore, food prices in Chicago were extremely high during this season.

Stimulated by repeated conflicts between supply and demand, Chicago grain merchants took the lead in taking action. They set up warehouses next to traffic arteries, purchased grain from farmers during the harvest season, and shipped it to other places the following year. This alleviated the seasonal contradiction between grain supply and demand.

However, grain merchants also bear great risks in this process. If the purchase price is higher than the selling price, they will lose money.

Therefore, after purchasing the grain, they immediately signed a supply contract with the grain merchants in Chicago for the following spring, determining the sales price in advance to ensure profits.

This is the formation of early modern futures, which basically revolved around farm products.

This kind of futures trading has actually appeared very early, but it was the Chicago businessmen who really figured out a mature futures trading system.

These Chicago businessmen founded the Chicago Board of Trade in 1848, the first futures exchange in the modern sense.

Liang Yao didn't expect that Wall Street's awareness was quite advanced. The Chicago Exchange had only been established for more than three years, and Wall Street had also started playing with futures, including gold futures.

"You only need a margin of US$100,000 to buy a gold contract worth US$10 million. These financiers on Wall Street are a little too ambitious. This is a leverage ratio of 1%."

Looking at the collected information, Liang Yao sighed and said that the leverage ratio of the futures market in later generations is generally around 5%, and will basically not be less than 5%. A leverage ratio of 1% is scary when you think about it. The capital of Wall Street is far greater than that of big companies. Most people imagine being greedy.

Liang Yao does not know exactly how many gold coins are in circulation in the American market.

But one thing is certain, that is, the United States is very, very lacking in gold coins.

Except for the California dollar coins issued by Liang Yao in California, all the gold coins in the United States combined may not be as much as the gold held by these rich people on this ship.

Liang Yao can easily leverage the gold market on Wall Street and even control the gold price on Wall Street.

In the United States, the only one with more gold than him is the federal treasury of the federal government.

"You want to leverage the gold market on Wall Street?"

Vanderbilt frowned.

“We now have the ability to leverage the entire American gold market, not to mention the Wall Street gold market.

But I still have some doubts about how much gold there is in the Wall Street gold market. The gold in the Wall Street gold market is only worth one to two million US dollars.

I don’t think it’s worth it for this little gold risk. "

I am afraid that in the entire United States, only these gold tycoons on this ship have such confidence.

"Of course I don't like the little gold on Wall Street, but what if the Treasury comes to rescue the market? The gold stored in the Treasury's federal vaults is still quite considerable."

Naturally, the gold on Wall Street's gold market can't bring much profit, but it's different when the Ministry of Finance comes to rescue the market.

"The Ministry of Finance is coming to rescue the market? Are you so sure?"

Vanderbilt was skeptical.

"The Treasury Department has to save the U.S. gold market." Liang Yao said confidently, "Agricultural exports are the bulk of U.S. exports. The British and French do not recognize the U.S. dollar, they only recognize gold."

Vanderbilt and his old friends were confused and couldn't follow Liang Yao's thinking for a while.

But Kony reacted quickly: "Sir, I understand."

"Kony, tell me."

Liang Yao planned to give Kony a chance to perform and asked Kony to continue speaking.

“Our current tariffs are already high, which is not conducive to the export of farm products. If the price of gold remains high, it will be even worse for domestic exporters in the United States.

Neither the British nor the French were willing to buy expensive American agricultural products.

These exporters are bound to put pressure on the government and ask the Ministry of Finance to control the gold price in the market. That's why you said the Treasury had to take action on the gold market. "Koni said after thinking about it.

"clever!"

Liang Yao patted Kony on the shoulder and said with great appreciation.

Agriculture is one of the few channels for the United States to earn foreign exchange (gold) through export. There is no reason for the Treasury Department not to use the gold in the federal treasury to intervene in the gold price in the market.

The negative impact of the sharp depreciation of the US dollar against gold is not something the federal government can bear.

Based on these two points alone, the US government has to step in to stabilize the gold price in the market, even if they are reluctant to do so.

"Doing this can indeed easily earn some pocket money, but it will also offend people in the government, especially those in the Ministry of Finance. Minister Corwin of the Ministry of Finance has a good impression of you. Are you sure you want to destroy your impression in the mind of Mr. Corwin?"

Vanderbilt said after thinking for a long time. He did not want to be enemies with people in government departments, but just wanted to make money steadily.

"I am different from those speculators on Wall Street. I can control my greed and know when to take action and when to stop." Liang Yao said very confidently.

"It's time for the federal government to take care of the chaos on Wall Street. I'm here to remind Mr. Corwin."

"Before you started doing business, I always thought you were a gold miner who only knew how to dig gold. After you got involved in business, I always thought you were an industrialist. I didn't expect you to know a little about finance." Vanderbilt said with emotion.

"It seems that I have to be on guard against you in the financial market on Wall Street in the future."

"No, I'm an industrialist. Without the support of industry, finance is just a castle in the air that will fall down at a push." ​​Liang Yao said, "This time I got involved in the gold market on Wall Street, but I just wanted to make some pocket money."

"I've been thinking about one thing these days and want to make a decision. This decision is the most difficult decision I've ever made in my life." Vanderbilt said, changing the topic of gold.

The next topic is more important than making some pocket money in the gold market. It is related to the future business of the Vanderbilt family.

"What decision?" Liang Yao asked curiously.