In the blink of an eye, a month had passed!
Over the past month, international gold prices have continued to decline.
As of December 20, the international gold price had fallen to $376 per ounce.
This price represented a further drop of about $100 compared to a month earlier.
The continuous decline in international gold prices has allowed investors who shorted gold to make a fortune.
Not to mention early entrants like Li Yi—even latecomers like the Green Brothers Company have raked in a massive profit.
For a time, the New York gold futures market had completely become a playground for the big short sellers!
Manhattan. The Green Estate!
Li Yi had just returned from the NASDAQ stock exchange when he was informed that Reggie Green had arrived and was waiting for him in the living room!
Without delay, Li Yi hurried into the estate’s reception room.
Reggie Green, who was sipping coffee in the living room, stood up the moment he saw Li Yi and said warmly, “Li, you’re finally back!”
“Green, after wrapping up the deal today, I had Billy show me around Wall Street, so I got back a bit late. Sorry to keep you waiting!” Li Yi said with a hint of apology.
“Oh, my friend, you don’t need to apologize for that—besides, I just got here myself!”
Reggie Green continued, “I heard you’ve been making a series of moves on the Nasdaq and scored some impressive wins. Congratulations!”
“Haha, just small-time stuff—nothing to write home about!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“Li, you Chinese are great in every way, but you’re just too modest!”
Reggie Green continued, “You went from $15 million to $160 million in just over a month. Even across all of Wall Street, few can match that kind of investment performance—how could that possibly be ‘nothing to write home about’?”
Li Yi smiled and didn’t dwell on the matter, instead changing the subject: “Green, what brings you here today? Is there something on your mind?”
In Reggie Green’s view, what Li Yi had just said was merely modesty—after all, such a track record was truly impressive.
But in Li Yi’s eyes, it really wasn’t that impressive.
His investments on the Nasdaq weren’t really about making money; they were about familiarizing himself with the rules of the U.S. stock market—preparing for future investments there.
There was no other choice; currently, there weren’t many places in the world where stock trading was available. The only markets Li Yi considered promising were Hong Kong stocks, U.S. stocks, and Japanese stocks.
But the Hong Kong market was currently sluggish, and the Japanese market was a mess; only the U.S. market was suitable for Li Yi to trade.
Therefore, he was really just learning and getting some practice in.
Otherwise, given his personality, how could he possibly be content to be a small retail investor? He would have been running the show as a market maker long ago.
However, he didn’t want to explain any of this to Reggie Green. Some things were best kept to himself; there was no need to voice them.
Reggie Green didn’t say much either. After hearing Li Yi’s question, the smile on his face faded slightly as he said, “Li, I came over today mainly to ask you: when are we going to close the deal and settle up?”
“You want to close the deal?” Li Yi asked, furrowing his brow.
Reggie Green paused briefly, then said, “I’ve been thinking about this. With international gold prices showing signs of recovery, I’m worried that if this continues, prices might suddenly rebound!”
In fact, quite a few people in the market share this view. With international gold prices breaking below the $400 mark, many believe the price has already hit bottom. Even if it were to fall further, they don’t think it would drop much more—surely it won’t break below the $300 mark!
Consequently, a significant number of more cautious investors began closing out their positions.
As these investors settled a large number of contracts, gold prices have not only halted their downward trend in recent days but have even shown signs of rising.
Under these circumstances, Reggie Green has also begun to waver!
“Green, do you think gold has bottomed out?” Li Yi asked in return.
“Probably not yet. After all, the Fed hasn’t even started its third round of rate hikes!”
Changing the subject, Reggie Green added, “But even if the Fed does raise rates, causing international gold prices to fall further, the drop won’t be significant. It’ll likely bottom out at $350 at most. We’ve already made a decent profit, so it’s better to lock in our gains!”
It was no wonder Reggie Green thought this way. After all, even at current gold prices, they had already made nearly $8,000 per contract, and 456,000 contracts amounted to $3.6 billion.
After deducting various fees, the net profit would be over $3.5 billion.
This performance had far exceeded Reggie Green’s expectations. With this capital, they could not only recoup all their previous investment losses but also deliver a satisfactory return to their investors—which, in his view, was more than enough.
So, he was eager to settle the trade as soon as possible.
Li Yi paused briefly, then said, “Green, you’re the CEO of the company. I don’t interfere with your normal investment decisions, and this time is no exception!”
“However, I’m not going to cash out this early—at least not before the Fed’s third rate hike. As for what the company does, that’s entirely up to you!”
Upon hearing this, Reggie Green fell silent.
Li Yi’s meaning was clear: he believed international gold prices would continue to fall, so he had no intention of pulling out.
He didn’t want the company to pull out so hastily either, but out of respect for Li Yi as the company’s head, he would only offer advice and not insist.
After a long pause, Reggie Green finally said, “Li, I’ll go back and discuss this with the company’s operations team. I’ll get back to you with an answer, okay?”
“Of course!”
“Thanks!”
Reggie Green then asked, “By the way, Li, Corning called me. They’re willing to lower their price by another $8 million on top of the original offer. If you agree, they’ll send someone over immediately to sign the agreement!”
Hearing this, the corners of Li Yi’s mouth turned up slightly, revealing a faint smile.
Half a month ago, through Reggie Green’s introduction, Li Yi had made contact with Corning—currently the largest color television manufacturer in the U.S.—to negotiate the introduction of a color television production line.
Upon learning that Li Yi wanted to import their color TVs, Corning was very enthusiastic, immediately offering a discounted price of $73 million, which also included installation.
However, Li Yi immediately slashed the price by 30%, offering only 50 million US dollars, and the two sides immediately began negotiations over this figure.
After two weeks of negotiations, the two sides still could not reach an agreement on price. Li Yi’s side was willing to go as high as $55 million, while Corning insisted on a “bottom line” of $63 million. Neither side was willing to budge, and the talks reached an impasse.
Seeing that the other side showed no signs of yielding, Li Yi immediately terminated the negotiations and instead sent representatives to approach VIZIO, the second-largest color TV manufacturer in the U.S.
Li Yi wasn’t using his contact with VIZIO to pressure Corning; he was genuinely shopping around. If VIZIO’s quality and price were right, he might very well have entered into a partnership with them.
Seeing that Li Yi was serious, Corning immediately grew anxious. After all, the U.S. was currently suffering from severe overcapacity, and the economy had been in a state of stagflation for over a decade.
It wasn’t just Corning; virtually every manufacturer was scrambling to find a way out. Therefore, they couldn’t possibly hand over a major client like Li Yi to a competitor.
Consequently, Corning’s CEO reached out to Reggie Green once more, expressing a willingness to accept the price Li Yi had proposed and asking him to facilitate the deal.
Seeing that the other party had agreed to his terms, Li Yi naturally saw no need to hold back. He immediately said, “In that case, have them come over. Let’s sign the agreement as soon as possible!”
“Alright!”
“Tell them to hurry up. I don’t think I’ll be here much longer!” Li Yi said meaningfully.
“Alright!”
After saying that, Reggie Green stood up to take his leave and departed from the estate!