Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 139

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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139. Not Bad for an Appetizer.

Quantum Fund Office, New York.
George Hamilton, with brown eyes and an expressionless face, stood with his arms crossed beside Rodney, the Chief Investment Officer, gazing at the dollar-yen exchange rate fluctuations displayed on the large ticker board.

[USD/JPY : 81.49]
[USD/JPY : 81.51]
.
.
[USD/JPY : 81.50]

Ian, the Chief Manager, straightened his upper body after confirming the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market situation from behind the employee seated at a desk surrounded by three computer monitors.
Then he approached the two men with a slightly stiffened expression.

“The Bank of Japan is injecting 500 million dollars in funds and purchasing additional dollars.”

George Hamilton then opened his mouth with an expressionless face.

“So this is what Japan looks like, even while reeling from the bubble collapse.”

Rodney beside him shrugged and replied.

“I predicted from the start that they’d be a far more formidable opponent than the Bank of England—that toothless old lion.”
“Indeed.”

Unlike the two composed men, Ian wore a worried expression tinged with anxiety.

“If the yen falls again like this, all the money we poured in today will have been wasted.”
“We can’t let that happen.”
“What do you intend to do?”

Rodney asked from beside him with keen interest in his eyes.

“If they counterattack with money, we simply overwhelm them by pouring in even more.”
“Since the Bank of Japan is mounting a full-scale resistance, we’ll need one devastating blow to completely break their will to fight.”
“Of course we will.”

George Hamilton calmly withdrew his mobile phone from his jacket and dialed someone.
After the connection tone sounded, a heavy, middle-aged man’s voice came through shortly after.

[Hello.]
“So you haven’t been sleeping.”

Joseph Saluchi, CEO of Goldman Sachs, responded matter-of-factly.

[How could I sleep when someone’s causing such a commotion in Tokyo?]

George Hamilton held the phone to his ear and lifted his gaze toward the large electronic board where a fierce battle was unfolding around the 81 yen level.

“For the sake of your peaceful sleep, could you lend me a hand in wrapping this up?”
[How much do you need?]
“How much can you provide?”
[Anyone listening would think I’d entrusted you with my money.]

At Saluchi’s terse complaint, George Hamilton flashed a cunning smile.

“Goldman’s betting on our side anyway, so we’re essentially in the same boat, aren’t we?”
[Tsk….]

After a brief silence as if considering, Saluchi blurted out his response.

[Another 300 million dollars should do it.]
“Okay. I’ll call you back later.”

George Hamilton smiled quietly and ended the call.
He immediately followed up with successive calls to Wall Street investment banks including JP Morgan and Bear Stearns, securing additional funds as needed.
Watching him effortlessly command vast sums through mere phone calls, Rodney marveled inwardly.

‘Only George Hamilton could pull off something like this.’

The Bank of Japan was holding its ground reasonably well, but now that George Hamilton had raised his flag, they would ultimately have no choice but to surrender.
At that moment, Ian, who had been standing and monitoring the screen without sitting, suddenly widened his eyes in shock.

“This is—!”

He urgently straightened his torso and shouted desperately toward George Hamilton and Rodney behind him.

“A 500 million dollar yen purchase order has come in, and the exchange rate is skyrocketing!”

George Hamilton, who had just finished a call with the Bear Stearns CEO, furrowed his brow and stared at the large exchange rate board directly in front of him.

[USD/JPY : 81.49]
[USD/JPY : 81.21]
.
.
[USD/JPY : 80.87]

Watching the exchange rate, which had been holding steady at the 81 yen level, suddenly surge upward, George Hamilton spoke.

“Where did that purchase order come from?”

Ian answered immediately.

“We haven’t confirmed the source yet, but given the massive volume that poured in all at once, it’s definitely a single order from one place.”
“If they can move an amount this large, it must be someone I know. Has a European force—or perhaps someone from Hong Kong—joined in?”

George Hamilton pondered with furrowed brow, trying to determine who had suddenly intervened and shaken the market.

“Whoever it is, one thing’s certain—if they’re buying yen, they’re on our side, aren’t they?”
“That’s right.”

George Hamilton nodded at Rodney’s words.
Then, his eyes gleamed sharply as he immediately made the decision to ride this momentum.

“Whoever they are, they’ve created an opportunity to completely seal our victory. It would be foolish to miss this.”

He turned to Ian and issued his command.

“Deploy all the additional funds we’ve secured right now!”
“All of it, sir?”
“Yes. The Bank of Japan is already pushed to their limits anyway. We finish this here.”
“Understood.”

Without hesitation, Ian mobilized his staff to unleash a torrent of yen purchase orders as if there were no reserves left to draw upon.
With Seok-won’s intervention tipping the scales that had been precariously balanced, the yen exchange rate surged upward with even steeper, more powerful momentum.
Witnessing this, George Hamilton, certain of victory, clenched his fist tightly.

* * *

Nomura Securities Headquarters, Chuo Ward, Tokyo, Japan.
The foreign exchange dealing room on the fifth floor was nothing short of a battlefield, with an incessant barrage of ringing phones and dealers’ shouting voices.
Exchange rates shifted by the second, demanding constant trading decisions, and while the usual trading sessions were always hectic, today’s chaos was exponentially worse.
It stemmed from George Hamilton and the hedge funds’ relentless assault on the yen, which had begun at dawn in the Sydney Foreign Exchange Market.

“Eleven bought at 0.8!”
“Done!”
“Twenty sold at market!”
“Say that again!”

Unable to hear clearly over the deafening noise, a colleague asked for the order to be repeated. The dealer in the checkered tie, phone receiver pressed to his ear, bellowed even louder.

“Market, twenty sold!”
“Okay. Done!”

The dealers, who had been executing trades without pause, were suddenly shocked as a massive wave of buy orders sent the yen surging toward the 80-yen threshold.

“What’s happening?!”
“Insane! Yen buy orders are exploding!”
“Ugh…”
“Could the 80-yen line actually break?”
“Surely not…”

They believed the Bank of Japan, which understood better than anyone the consequences of breaching the critical 80-yen threshold, would hold the line at all costs.
Yet even as they held this conviction, anxiety gnawed at them—how much longer could the Bank of Japan withstand the hedge funds’ relentless wave attacks, which seemed intent on finishing this battle today?
The dealing room had fallen silent as a tomb, and everyone held their breath, swallowing hard as they stared at the price display with unwavering intensity.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly.
The exchange rate, which had held firm at 80 yen, finally crumbled under the bombardment of fresh sell orders—the decisive blow—and the leading digit shifted from 8 to 7.

[USD/JPY : 80.09]
[USD/JPY : 80.11]
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.
.
[USD/JPY : 80.02]
[USD/JPY : 79.97]

When the 80-yen level that dealers had believed the Bank of Japan would defend at any cost crumbled so easily, they were seized with shock.

“E-eighty yen has broken!”
“This can’t be happening….”

As everyone held their heads in disbelief, staring at the exchange rate that had plummeted to the 79-yen range.
Suddenly, telephone bells began ringing incessantly from every direction.

Ring! Ring!

“Yes? You want us to buy yen.”
“At 79.97, or rather 79.89 yen—is that acceptable?”
“Ten boats of yen at market price. Understood.”

The moment the 80-yen line—which they had believed to be the final defense—shattered, Japanese export companies and trading houses that had been watching cautiously until now began frantically selling dollars and hoarding yen, fearing the decline in dollar asset values.
Sensing immediately that the Bank of Japan had failed to defend the exchange rate, Minaguchi Koichi, the Foreign Exchange Center Director, shouted loudly with a stern expression.

“We’re selling all our dollar holdings right now and buying yen!”

Since this was a battle where every second counted, Minaguchi Koichi, the Foreign Exchange Center Director, urged the dealers on with desperate intensity.

“Director! If we do that, the yen will soar even higher!”

Motani Kosuke, a section chief wearing gold-rimmed glasses with his hair neatly combed back, turned in his chair to speak.

“I know that! But we can’t just absorb all the losses from the dollar’s decline, can we!”
“That’s true, but….”
“If you’re not going to cover the exchange losses yourself, then just do as I say!”

With the yen skyrocketing before their eyes, holding onto dollars meant incurring losses proportional to every point of decline.
If even Japan’s largest securities company began selling dollars and buying yen, the exchange rate would inevitably surge beyond control—it was as clear as day.
Yet the company couldn’t absorb losses as Minaguchi’s words implied, so they had to buy yen to protect their profit margins.

“Understood.”

Having accepted the decision, Section Chief Motani immediately began actively selling dollars and buying yen alongside the other dealers to minimize losses.
Watching this, Minaguchi Koichi, the Foreign Exchange Center Director, lifted his head and muttered in a low voice.

“Just how far will it go.”

The yen exchange rate displayed on the large ticker board installed at the front surged like an unstoppable tide the moment the 80 yen line was breached.
Minaguchi Koichi wiped his sweat-soaked palms on his trousers and clenched his teeth.

* * *

At the same moment, Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Chiyoda Ward Nagatacho, Tokyo, Japan.

[USD/JPY : 79.97]
.
.
[USD/JPY : 79.82]

As the unstable exchange rate finally broke through the 80 yen barrier and surged upward, Prime Minister Suzuki, who had been watching anxiously, froze in shock.
Minister Fujimoto and Minister Murata, standing beside him, also stood slack-jawed in astonishment.

“What on earth is happening…?”

As Prime Minister Suzuki muttered in disbelief, the telephone on the side table suddenly rang.
He grabbed the receiver urgently, and a gloomy voice came through the line.

[Prime Minister, it’s Kajiwara.]
“Kajiwara!”

Prime Minister Suzuki gripped the receiver and shouted.

“Why is the exchange rate like this! How is this possible!”
[We did our best to contain it, but the hedge funds’ assault was too fierce to withstand.]
“Didn’t I authorize an additional 1.5 billion dollars for exchange rate defense!”
[In just thirty minutes since noon, yen purchase orders totaling 3 billion dollars have poured in.]

At the staggering sum, Prime Minister Suzuki involuntarily exhaled sharply.

“You’re saying the hedge funds unleashed that much money?”
[While George Hamilton’s hedge funds continue to lead the assault, given that purchase orders are erupting from Hong Kong and Europe, as well as from within Japan itself… it appears that overseas investment institutions that had been watching cautiously, along with Japanese financial institutions and corporations, have all joined in buying yen.]
“Hmm….”

Hearing that even Japanese financial institutions and corporations were selling dollars and buying yen, Prime Minister Suzuki squeezed his eyes shut.

[Since the 80 yen line we considered our last stand has collapsed, there’s no telling how far the exchange rate will climb now. To stop this….]

Kajiwara hesitated for a moment before finishing his words with difficulty.

[To prevent this, we have no choice but to lower interest rates.]

The Bank of Japan had consistently maintained high rates, arguing that complying with the government’s demand for a rate cut could trigger a new bubble that would devastate the Japanese economy.
Yet the fact that he was now proposing the cut himself meant the situation had become critically urgent.

“Is the situation truly that grave?”

Prime Minister Suzuki asked, his face hardening.

[I apologize, but if this continues, the foreign exchange market may collapse.]

Prime Minister Suzuki bit his lip hard, his hands trembling slightly.
He wanted to grab Kajiwara by the collar and shake him, demanding if there was truly no other way.
But instead, his voice grew hollow as he consented to the rate cut.

“I understand. Do as you see fit.”

After ending the call, Prime Minister Suzuki set down the receiver and gazed at the exchange rate with a defeated expression, watching it continue its relentless, steep climb.

* * *

[USD/JPY : 79.51]

Seok-won sat at his desk, chin resting on his hand, staring intently at the exchange rate display on his monitor. A dark smile spread across his face, his teeth gleaming faintly.
The moment the 80 yen barrier broke, it was as if a dam had burst—the buying pressure that had been held in check suddenly erupted in massive waves, driving the yen down with terrifying force. I was certain of victory.

“It’s over.”

Seok-won reached out and picked up the telephone receiver on his desk.

[This is Team Leader Kim Jung-sik.]
“Are you watching the exchange rate?”
[Yes, Director!]

Team Leader Kim Jung-sik answered with barely contained excitement in his voice.

“I’ve eaten my fill. Now let’s liquidate all positions.”
[Understood!]

Kim Jung-sik, who had been eagerly awaiting the sell order, responded immediately with a joyful exclamation.
After setting down the receiver and turning my attention back to the monitor, the yen exchange rate was surging past even 79 yen.

“There’s still more to squeeze out, but for an appetizer, this isn’t bad at all.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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