In early June, the scenario that international hedge funds had been hoping for unfolded.
The Russian stock market index plummeted, and the price of oil rose from $17 a barrel to $20 a barrel.
Last year, Saudi Arabia joined other countries to increase oil production, launching an oil price war. Middle Eastern oil production increased from 9.5 million barrels per day to 9.9 million barrels per day, and crude oil prices fell from $20 per barrel to $14 per barrel.
In that oil price war, Russia was innocently caught in the crossfire and had no choice but to follow the trend of world crude oil prices and lower its domestic oil prices, otherwise they would face a situation where they had no customers.
Even now, Russia has not yet recovered from the fiscal austerity measures triggered by low oil prices.
After a series of actions by Russia, oil prices finally began to recover slowly, but they also stabilized at around $17 per barrel.
In an effort to recover from the devaluation of the ruble, the government was forced to increase tariffs on exported oil, minerals, and other energy products.
This move directly threatens Europe's survival resources, and the European stock market and the Russian stock market tend to have different focuses most of the time.
Therefore, when Russia was attacked by international hedge funds, Europe was not greatly affected. However, in the financial markets, if the prices of futures contracts for oil and minerals were affected, Europe would be the direct victim.
Russia isn't stupid either. With international hedge funds so obviously targeting them, how could they possibly swallow such a huge consequence?
So the authorities quietly shifted the crisis to Europe, raising oil prices and letting these international speculative capitalists reap what they sow.
The first wave of attacks did not achieve the expected results, and Robertson was very disappointed when he received the data.
"The Russian authorities have spent a lot of money to buy back the sell orders we put up on the stock market, creating the illusion that the stock market is digesting well and trading is normal."
Robertson curled his lip and continued, "All Russia cares about now is making the data look good. With such a large trading volume and such a frequent turnover rate in the market every day, I don't believe that international speculators can stay obediently in Russia."
As Cyber passed by Robertson's office area, he overheard Robertson saying these words during a meeting with their senior management, and he felt extremely disdainful.
Seeing that Cyber's expression was unnatural, Poro asked in broken Chinese, "What's wrong?"
“It’s nothing.” Cyber casually followed Poro to Soros’s office.
Meanwhile, the people at the Quantum Fund were also having a hard time. Due to the unclear effect of their first wave of attacks on Russia, Soros was berating his advisors for being all talk and no action.
After witnessing this scene, Cyber finally understood why Robertson had been so arrogant and lectured his traders.
Clearly, neither of the two bosses was satisfied with the outcome of this confrontation. However, they had previously made it clear that Robertson was in charge of this operation against Russia.
His operation was guided by Soros, and his aim was to shake out international speculators who remained in Russia by causing stock market volatility. This would allow them to use their capital in Hong Kong, the most active futures market at present.
The Soros Group's goal is to short the Hong Kong stock index, which requires a large-scale capital injection. Clearly, the international speculators and financial tycoons they have previously partnered with are no longer sufficient to meet their needs.
The most appropriate, yet also the most unethical, solution at this time would be to relocate international speculators from other financial markets to Hong Kong.
So Soros came up with this idea.
Of course, this is only the most direct reason. There is a deeper reason: due to Russia's special geographical relationship with Europe and Asia, the volatility of the Russian stock market directly affects Europe and China.
As two of the world's major economic regions, Europe and China are affected in their stock markets. This impact will inevitably extend to foreign trade and other markets due to the influence of these two regions.
When global stock markets are in chaos, they can take advantage of the confusion.
Ultimately, Hong Kong is merely a foothold for them to enter the global stock market. They have laid the groundwork for their financial power in the New York Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, stock markets in Southeast Asian countries, and financial markets in countries like H and island nations.
The first wave of attacks had no real effect, and they quickly returned, putting Yulia under immense pressure in Russia.
But at this moment, Chen Dong could not share her burden, because he had a more important task.
"Although Russia is beset on all sides, its authorities are not pushovers either. So it won't be so easy for the Soros Group to manipulate Russia as they have before," Chen Dong said.
However, Ma Guoliang, who has been stationed on the front lines in Russia, does not think so. "While the Russian authorities may not be traitors, the IMF and the World Bank, which they receive aid from, are not."
"Just like Country H before, they initially accepted economic aid from the Federal Reserve and the International Monetary Fund with the intention of sincere cooperation. However, it turned out that the International Monetary Fund, on the surface, was supporting Country H, but in reality, it was using the economic aid agreement between the two countries to open up a window for Country H's foreign trade."
"In other words, they traded a sum of money for an open market."
The biggest concern for Longteng's top management, including Yulia's support team, is whether Russia will follow in their footsteps, given the lessons learned from the H country market.
A moment of silence fell over the meeting room. International hedge funds had not yet launched a formal attack on Hong Kong, and they couldn't offer any assistance to Russia either.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
