After ordering three of the latest Ferraris, Lamborghini and Maserati in Italy for a total of 300 million lira, Bell Stone deposited six million dollars in Crédit Italia and then ran with Andrew to London, the next stop of his European trip.

London is the capital of England, the largest city and the largest port in Europe, and the largest metropolitan area in Europe. In addition to this, London is also one of the largest financial markets on Shijie, and its financial city has the largest foreign exchange market, insurance market, gold market, copper market, etc. on Shijie. It is also a leader in the global market in the fields of derivative over-the-counter trading activities, foreign exchange and financial trade.

Not far from Tower Bridge and London Bridge, a landmark of London, there is a windowless fortress-like eight-story building, the Bank of England, known as the "King of Banks", and not far to the north of it, the matchbox-shaped London Stock Exchange.

A short distance east of the Bank of England and the London Stock Exchange is Lloyd, the most well-funded and highest-income organization in the Shijie insurance industry, which is the center of Shijie insurance. A little further east is the London Financial Exchange, where most of the precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper on Shijie are bought and sold. To the south of the Bank of England, near London Bridge and Cannon Bridge, is the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, the earliest, largest and third largest futures and options exchange in Europe.

This is London's (old) City of Finance, which is known as the "square mile" and is home to more than 600 banks from all over Shijie, making it one of the most capital-intensive places on Shijie, comparable to Wall Street across the ocean, and in some respects even better. (The new financial city is further east, and it didn't rise in the nineties.) ）

At this time, Bellstone and Andrew are walking on Tower Bridge, known as the "Main Gate of London", which has been established for more than 100 years and is one of London's iconic buildings. In particular, the bridge was designed to meet both shipping and road traffic needs, when there were 10,000 tons of ships passing through the Thames, the bridge under the tower bridge was separated by machines in the main tower, and then Xiangshang folded, and after the ships passed, the bridge slowly fell down to restore vehicular traffic.

Don't underestimate this design, know that the two moving decks each weigh more than 1,000 tons, and the machinery used for lifting and lowering in the main tower has been in normal use since the tower bridge was built and has never failed.

Bell Stone and Andrew ascend the pedestrian access through the stairs inside the main tower and enjoy the views of the upper and lower Thames at a leisurely pace. At this time, the sun was shining, it was noon, and the high-rise buildings of the financial city could be seen in the distance on the upper floor, and Zhong Shi's heart rose with a sense of pride.

In his previous life, he only stopped in London for a short time and did not tour very carefully, but this time he came to London with Andrew, which just made up for the regrets of his previous life.

"Andrew, I heard that you bought an apartment here, is it true?" Zhong Shi asked seemingly nonchalantly as he took a leisurely stroll.

"Huh? Yes, although my main business focus is Hong Kong now, London has always been my hometown, so ......" Andrew is also very excited, he is also kind of a good return to his hometown, and he has some spare money in his hands, so he thinks about investing in London real estate.

"Is it full payment or mortgage?" Zhong Shi asked again.

"Naturally, it's a mortgage! Boss, you can't beat me at that, haha. Andrew just smiled, and when he was with Zhong Shi, he didn't dare to relax for a moment. For this little boss, he admires it so much, and in some places he is so shrewd that it is outrageous.

The reason why the mortgage was not paid in full was not because he did not have enough cash, but because he was reluctant to pay the "opportunity cost" in one lump sum.

The concept of opportunity cost refers to the maximum value generated by the use of a certain amount of money when it is used. In other words, Andrew's loss in the form of a mortgage is nothing more than interest, and the "opportunity cost" may be a huge loss of profit because the money cannot be used in capital operations.

"Haha, you're smart! As far as you know, what is the situation in the UK property market? Zhong Shi smiled slightly, and then diverted the topic.

"It's not good, the economic development of the UK has not been very good in recent years, and it is estimated that except for these people in front of me, everyone else's life is not very good!" Andrew pointed to the financial city opposite, and his tone unconsciously brought a little mockery.

"If interest rates go up, will it cause the real estate market to wither even more? Let's go to the bar! After Zhong Shi finished speaking, he took the lead and walked towards the bar in the main tower.

In the main tower of the Tower of London, there are museums, shops and bars, and the two of them walked for a long time, and they also felt a little tired. Andrew was still very unaccustomed to Zhong Shi's cloudy way of speaking, so he could only follow behind with a confused mind.

As a result, when he entered the bar, Zhong Shi could only order a glass of soda because he was not yet an adult, while Andrew gulped a large glass of beer. Sitting in this bar are young men in crisp suits, who are supposed to work in the financial city to the north and come here to rest during the lunch break.

"Let me tell you, the news has not been very good recently, it is said that those consortiums from the United States have been eyeing the British pound, and the foreign exchange department of your bank is very busy......"

Shortly after Bell Stone and Andrew sat down, they heard a man in a HugoBoss suit next to him whispering loudly to his companion. This suit is a German brand, and it is not a standard dress in the city of London, so I think this person should be from a German consortium.

"Andrew, can you tell me what pounds, what foreign exchange?" Zhong Shi listened to it for a long time, but felt that the more he listened, the more confused he became, and he couldn't help but ask Andrew.

It is not surprising that in later generations, he was a halfway monk and did not receive systematic financial training, but he was more familiar with the bond market and quantitative arbitrage, and the few financial varieties he knew were nothing more than interest rates and derivatives.

"What? Boss, don't tease me, you don't know this? Andrew's eyes were about to drop, the beer in his mouth almost squirted, and his face turned red after coughing violently. Boss, do you really want to test me, or do you want to tease me? ”

"You don't know, I really don't know much about this foreign exchange. If you don't say it, I'll go and ask that brother, how about it? Zhong Shi's face was straight, and he couldn't laugh or cry. Dare to love in Andrew's heart, he knows everything, it is no wonder, if a person who doesn't even know foreign exchange knowledge, how can he be so popular in the financial market!

"Don't, don't...... Boss, I said no! Andrew hurriedly stopped. He coughed, cleared his throat, and then said seriously: "Actually, this foreign exchange market is a bit complicated, but the principle is similar to that of other financial products, basically the comparison between prices in two countries. ”

"Take this beer, for example." Andrew picked up the large glass of beer in his hand, "This glass of wine in Hong Kong may cost fourteen yuan, and here it may cost one pound for the same quality, so the currency ratio between the two places is one to fourteen." ”

"It's as simple as that?" Zhong Shi's face was full of disbelief.

"Of course it's not that simple, I'm just making an analogy. In fact, it's not just beer that can be compared, but there are many other products, basically everything. In addition, tariffs, national economic strength, inflation rate and other factors must be included before it can be determined. ”

"That's all? Can you keep it forever after you settle down? Zhong Shi thought for a long time and then asked.

"Of course, that's not the case, in a free market economy, the exchange rate fluctuates at any time. After all, developments vary from day to day, from season to quarter, from year to year, so these exchange rates are not set in stone. Andrew was a little proud, and he could see that his boss was really not very proficient in the exchange rate system.

"And what's going on with these fluctuations?" Zhong Shi asked again.

"It's appreciation or depreciation or something, if a country's economic strength fails, then its currency will decline, and foreign exchange traders in the market will not want to hold these currencies, and then they will sell them in the market. The process of selling is similar to that of stocks, and when there are more people selling, the exchange rate will naturally go down, that is, it will depreciate. ”

"But it's not absolute, because the country's central bank is thinking about economic development and politics, and sometimes it doesn't let the currency depreciate, so they will take it over in the market and keep the exchange rate within a manageable range." The country's foreign exchange reserves do just that, because the value of a currency is very important for a country's imports and exports, especially an island country like the United Kingdom. ”

"So what if the country's central bank can't support the market's efforts to sell its own currency?" Zhongshi finally understood what the sterling crisis was all about.

"How is this possible? What institution on Shijie has the strength to compete with a country's central bank? No way! No way! "Andrew Hahadaxiao, said two impossibilities in a row.

"Nothing is impossible!" A mysterious smile appeared on Zhong Shi's face. He drank all the soda in front of him in one gulp, and snapped his fingers at the sky, "Waiter, check out!" (Thank you very much for the reward from the book friend 0763 Fat Dragon!) I hope that more book friends can support this book and ask for Sanjiang tickets, the results of this book need everyone's joint efforts, xiexie! ）