"Boss, there are new protesters downstairs again!" Hao Jianguo said to Huang He with a strange expression one morning at work.
"What are they protesting this time? Haven't our funds already gone up, and even profited by 15%?" Little Swift, overhearing, rolled his eyes.
"Uh... it's those investors who applied for refunds before. They say they want to give up their refunds now and give us the money back!" Hao Jianguo said, blinking.
"As the boss said, these people can really be this shameless!" Little Swift was stunned. Even though he had already laid the groundwork and analyzed all the risks thoroughly in his speech that day, these people still dared to brazenly demand their money back. It was unbelievable.
"Should we accept?" Hao Jianguo asked softly.
"Absolutely not this time!" Little Swift said without hesitation. Although Little Swift didn't understand finance very well, he wasn't foolish. Giving a refund the first time was an opportunity, but a second refund would make a mockery of the entire fund's rules.
"Send someone down to post a notice saying that once refunded, it's final, and there will be no possibility of repurchasing the fund again. Also, call our friendly media. This is Onion News that can make the entire American people laugh to death!" Little Swift sneered.
These past few days, the prestige and divine aura of our Little Swift had been re-condensed.
The reason was simple: oil futures had been rising.
A few days prior, due to the growth period of domestic automobile consumption, the demand for gasoline had been continuously increasing, leading to a rising demand for crude oil from China's refining enterprises.
At this time, crude oil prices were at a low. Logically, they should have been acquired in large quantities. However, China's refining enterprises found that although the prices were very low, there were few orders on the market.
For the first month or so, because they had accumulated a considerable inventory of crude oil, China's crude oil enterprises were reluctant to purchase in large quantities to avoid an explosive increase in oil prices. They only swept up some small orders at low prices.
However, their crude oil reserves were now almost depleted, and many oil refineries were soon facing a situation of having no oil to refine. This could potentially lead to a shortage of oil at gas stations domestically, which would be troublesome.
After all, domestic stability had always been prioritized. Prices could rise, but there must absolutely be no stock-outs.
Therefore, China's crude oil enterprises gritted their teeth and directly swept up over 40 million barrels of crude oil that were listed at high prices on the market for $22 per barrel, thus partially compensating for their crude oil deficit.
However, this action also caused drastic changes in market prices. Everyone watched in stunned silence as crude oil prices, which were on the verge of falling to $18 per barrel, directly surged to $22.
A price increase of nearly 15% in one go was truly terrifying.
Ordinary retail investors were astonished by the market volatility, but professional investment institutions began to analyze the reasons for the surge in oil prices and discovered that it was China's crude oil enterprises making the purchases.
This discovery was no small matter.
Refining enterprises are not investment institutions. Investment institutions buy oil futures for speculation and investment. Regardless of how much oil they buy or how many times the orders are traded, it actually remains stored in warehouses and undergoes no actual change; it is never used.
But when refining enterprises buy oil, it is immediately transported back to the country by ship, refined into various oil products, and sold to consumers. This is genuine crude oil consumption, and these oil orders cannot be resold.
In other words, this price increase was not due to artificial investment reasons, but a genuine situation where demand exceeded supply. No matter how high the price rose, those crude oil enterprises had to acquire crude oil regardless of the cost!
Thus, these investment institutions immediately understood that oil was about to enter a rising phase.
These people, regretting their previous actions of selling their orders cheaply, placed orders instructing that their current holdings of crude oil should not be sold, and that they should also begin to discreetly acquire other crude oil on the market, even if the prices for these orders were already above $22.
Of course, their actions would not be the direct, large-scale sweeping of the market like the refining enterprises. They did not have much crude oil in their inventories, so they still hoped for oil prices to remain stable and rise slowly; otherwise, their acquisition costs would multiply.
Driven by these considerations, crude oil prices in global crude oil futures markets began to rise. Although the price increase was relatively slow, lacking the terrifying data of a nearly $4 increase in a single day, the average daily increase was around $1. By today, crude oil prices had risen to $25 per barrel. Compared to the large quantities of crude oil Little Swift acquired at $20, the crude oil in the Western Mustang Fund, originally valued at $19 billion, had instantly increased by 25%, reaching a value of nearly $23.7 billion. The rate of return had changed from the previous -5% to the current 15%.
In this situation, all the talk about the fall of a god, or Little Swift being an idiot, naturally vanished without a trace. Instead, the Black Financial God Little Swift had returned, and it seemed his reputation was even more resounding than before.
After all, the prophetic dispute between Little Swift and Buffett was still ongoing, and it was only March, five full months before August. Who would win or lose was already becoming clear.
Of course, some people expressed disdain for this. They argued that Little Swift had predicted the price increase would start in ten days, but in reality, the oil price only began to rise after thirteen days. Therefore, Little Swift had also lost, and it was merely a draw between Little Swift and Buffett. There was no old god falling, nor a new god being born.
Although such arguments were sour and unpleasant, they were popular within the circles. Everyone agreed with this notion, considering it a draw. Little Swift was indifferent to this, as he had never expected to gain the approval of those noble Caucasians.
It was the Black compatriots who were still protesting outside their own office building that seemed particularly detestable and annoying.
Soon, the American police arrived. However, this time they did not stand by and watch. Instead, they rolled up their sleeves, grabbed their weapons, and arrested all those protesting at the entrance.
After all, it was stated that as long as they could maintain peace within their jurisdiction, the Western Mustang Fund would provide a certain quota for the purchase of the third phase of the fund to all gentlemen in the police department in the future.
The total amount was around $5 million, enough for all the police officers to buy some.
Many police officers had wanted to purchase the second phase of the fund last time, but the second phase of the fund was selling so well that they couldn't even buy it without patrolling and queuing up. Now, with the third phase purchase opportunity delivered right to their doorstep, they were naturally delighted.
Although there were some twists and turns in the second phase, hadn't the rate of return since risen back to 15%?
Investing $10,000 in the fund could yield a net profit of $1,500. Where else could one find such benefits?
Of course, this was by no means bribery. Bribery was giving money, but purchasing a fund involved one actively paying money. Have you ever seen bribery so effective that the recipient actively pays money? Not to mention that funds carried risks and a significant possibility of loss.
Although these arrested individuals were released after a few days, and upon their angry release, they intended to find the media to accuse Western Mustang Company of illegal activities, they were surprised to discover that they did not need to find the media to accuse them, as they had already become the focus of all American media.
However, it was a focus that was like a joke. The fund had lost money, so they couldn't bear the losses and went to protest tearfully, demanding refunds.
This was something that any capitalist with a conscience would never do, but Little Swift actually refunded them at the original price, which was truly like a saint descending to earth.
Now that the fund was making money, these people were shamelessly trying to buy back into the fund. Did it mean that only when the fund made money were they satisfied, and when it lost money, they were not?
Moreover, according to the news videos released earlier, Little Swift had clearly stated his intentions before refunding, vowing that international oil prices would rise in five days, and the fund would surely turn losses into profits, urging everyone not to refund.
Since they did not heed his advice, insisted on refunds, and even stormed his office building, the entire incident was nothing more than a joke, and there was not a shred of sympathy to be found.
Furthermore, with this fluctuation in oil prices, nearly 80% of oil funds across America had suffered heavy losses in this wave, with losses generally ranging from 10% to 20%. Investors who had purchased other oil funds and lost money to the point of wanting to jump off balconies would never be willing to let these people buy back into the fund; they wished everyone in the world would suffer the same fate as them!
As a result, these people became complete jokes in the media, receiving no sympathy whatsoever and finding no support. On the contrary, they were met with mockery from the entire internet and could only retreat with their tails between their legs.
Then they comforted themselves by thinking that at least all their money had been returned, which was better than those unlucky individuals who had lost over 10%!
Affected by this lesson, for the next decade or so, regardless of whether the Western Mustang Fund's products made profits or losses, no one dared to come to the company's doorstep to cause trouble again, not even the Black brothers. After all, the precedent was there, and they did not want to be mocked by the entire internet. It was simply too embarrassing.