Just as William and his crew were in a frenzy, Li Yi and his group next door also heard the news of the Fed’s rate hike.
When a member of Billy’s team rushed in to share the good news, the dozen or so people in the spacious VIP room were stunned.
After a brief silence, once they confirmed the news was true, the room erupted in deafening cheers.
“God, our luck is just too good. How did we happen to run into a Fed rate hike? It’s incredible!”
“Boss, with the Fed’s rate hike, we’re guaranteed to win this time. Even the legendary William would have to admit defeat in a situation like this!”
“That’s right. The Fed has really outdone themselves this time. Their secrecy was flawless—not even we got wind of it beforehand!”
“The Fed has been messing things up for so many years, but they’ve finally done something right…”
As elites in the financial world, they naturally understood the impact of a Fed rate hike on shorting gold.
Originally, facing the Legendary William team’s attacks, they had absolutely no confidence.
Now, the Fed has suddenly and quietly announced a rate hike, and has explicitly stated that there will be three rounds of hikes this year, with further decisions to be made after the New Year.
If high inflation persists, further rate hikes cannot be ruled out.
This is nothing short of pouring a bucket of cold water on gold prices that have been skyrocketing—no, it’s more like using a fire extinguisher!
Forget about whether gold prices will continue to rise—it would be a victory just to hold onto today’s pre-market levels.
After all, no one is fooled: as soon as the Fed hikes rates, massive amounts of capital will shift into the U.S. dollar, and with fewer investors in gold, prices will naturally fall.
Now it all comes down to how steep the drop will be!
Billy calmly glanced at the composed Li Yi, then couldn’t help but ask, “Boss, you’re so confident that William’s team won’t achieve their target. Did you know all along that the Fed was going to raise rates?”
At those words, the previously noisy room fell instantly silent, and everyone turned to look at Li Yi.
In truth, Billy wasn’t the only one curious about the answer—everyone else was wondering the same thing.
It wasn’t just because the timing of the Fed’s rate hike was too convenient—they had just shorted gold yesterday, and now the Fed was raising rates today. It was simply too much of a coincidence.
Secondly, Li Yi had remained remarkably calm throughout. At Zaiying, no one had ever heard of anyone staying so composed upon learning that the legendary William intended to target them.
After all, this was a madman who dared to short even the British government. There were at least eighty, if not a hundred, billionaires who had suffered massive losses at his hands. In the entire US and UK stock and futures markets, Legendary William was an absolute god-like figure—just hearing his name would make anyone’s knees tremble.
But Li Yi, “banbanhaobang,” didn’t seem to care at all. Upon learning that William’s team was targeting him, not only did he not panic, but he actually invited them all to watch the show. All of this was simply too out of the ordinary.
So, in everyone’s eyes, Li Yi must have been privy to some inside information; otherwise, there was no way to explain all this.
Seeing everyone’s eyes on him, Li Yi’s lips curled into a faint smile. He then turned to Billy and said, “That’s right—I do know the Federal Reserve is going to raise interest rates!”
They had assumed Li Yi wouldn’t admit to it—after all, if this information were leaked, it could cause them immense trouble, and might even trigger an FBI investigation.
In fact, they had even prepared a denial for Li Yi to use.
But they never expected him to admit it. Billy, George, and the others were momentarily at a loss for words.
After a long pause, Billy asked again, “Boss, this is such a confidential matter—even our company’s top brass doesn’t know about it. How did you find out? Of course, if you’re not comfortable sharing, we’ll…”
Before he could finish, Li Yi cut in: “What’s there to be uncomfortable about? Isn’t the Fed’s rate hike a conclusion anyone could reach with a little analysis? Is there really any need to make such a fuss over it?”
Billy: …%￥#
George: #￥%……&
Lan Xinyi: &……%￥
Everyone else: &……%￥#@#￥%……&
Li Yi’s incredibly arrogant remark once again left the group of elites in the room completely dumbfounded.
Billy quickly caught on and looked at Li Yi in shock, asking, “Are you saying that the Fed’s rate hike wasn’t leaked to you by someone else, but that you figured it out on your own?”
“Of course I figured it out myself. How could anyone tell a foreigner like me about something so confidential in advance? That’s ridiculous,” Li Yi said.
“How could you be so certain the Fed was going to raise rates?” Billy asked again.
“For something like this, you just need to look at the situation in your country and familiarize yourself with the Fed’s usual practices. I’m sure you’re well aware of the biggest problem your domestic economy is facing right now!” Li Yi said.
“Are you referring to high inflation?”
“Exactly!”
Li Yi continued, “Actually, looking at your country as a whole, your economic policies have always been rather rigid—and so have the people!”
“Stubborn?”
“It means stubborn and inflexible!”
Li Yi continued, “I don’t mean that as a criticism. Let’s stick to the facts. Take the hyperinflation your country is currently facing, for example. If this were happening in our country, the government might take all sorts of measures to address it—like sending thousands of young people to the countryside to ease the burden on the cities!”
“But your approach has always been simplistic and heavy-handed: when there’s inflation, the Federal Reserve raises interest rates; when there’s stagflation, it cuts rates and loosens monetary policy—and it never fails. Think about it—isn’t that exactly how it works?”
Billy, George, and the others were eager to argue back, but upon closer reflection, they realized Li Yi was right. Every time the national economy faced inflation, the Federal Reserve would spare no effort in raising interest rates.
At their peak, they’d even raise rates for over a dozen consecutive rounds, only stopping once the excess liquidity affecting the dollar’s value had flowed back into their hands and the dollar had regained its strength in the market.
At this thought, both men simply opened their mouths but ultimately said nothing!
“The current double-digit inflation is unprecedented in the two hundred years since your country’s founding. The people are already suffering terribly. Isn’t it only natural for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates? If I didn’t know all this, how could I dare to travel all this way just to short gold?” Li Yi said again.
“But you only started shorting gold yesterday, and today the Fed raised rates. Is that really a coincidence?” Billy frowned.
“It’s not a coincidence—it’s luck!” Li Yi said,
“Luck?”
Billy was once again stunned by Li Yi’s words. Who could possibly have such unbelievable luck? Did he think he was the son of Lady Luck?
Clearly, he didn’t believe a word of what Li Yi was saying.
Besides, if this were really that easy to analyze, would Legendary William and his crew be targeting them right now? Did he really think these Wall Street elites were complete idiots?
Li Yi was right—the Fed’s overall response was sound, but timing was the key.
After all, high inflation hasn’t been a problem for just a year or two, yet the Fed had remained inactive all this time. Why did they choose to raise rates today of all days?
But he also knew that Li Yi had already shown them a great deal of courtesy by sharing this much; given his status, he could have easily kept all of this to himself.
With that in mind, he didn’t dwell on the issue any further and asked again, “Boss, what should we do now?”
“Nothing at all. Barring any surprises, the group trying to ambush us will retreat soon enough. We just need to sit back and watch how things play out!” Li Yi said.
To him, William and the others’ ambush was merely a minor hiccup in the entire project—it wouldn’t affect the bigger picture.
Now that the Federal Reserve had begun raising interest rates, the market would inevitably experience some turbulence as a result, and the price of gold would inevitably fall.
But this alone wouldn’t cause gold to plummet dramatically, let alone halve in value.
They must wait—wait for the next piece of positive news. That will be the optimal moment to truly reap the rewards from those Wall Street speculators, and that moment is coming very soon!
PS: There will be another chapter before midnight!