The telegram was still from Volpi, he informed Francisco of the situation, saying that he was helpless, although it was not easy for Mussolini to give up this idea, but now the financial system has been violently shaken because of this rumor, the lira has tightened, and the foreign exchange has increased, which is a great thing - the local currency is tight, and the foreign exchange is just right to release water and print more money, but he knows that this situation is an illusion, completely caused by rumors, if the water is released now, once these people wake up and exchange foreign exchange, The exchange rate of the lira will be quickly washed away.

At the same time, Leo also sent a telegram, saying that someone in the market sold a large number of 7, 8, 9 three-month crude oil spot contracts, and the price fell from $1.2 to $1.1, although the market price ups and downs are normal, but this kind of price suppression is more than a reasonable state, and although the United Group itself is rapidly producing oil, it will not make such a reckless move, which is to force its own pricing.

Francisco and Contini couldn't discuss any countermeasures, so they finally had to comfort Volpi and Leo not to rush and wait and see.

After the telegram was sent, Contini suddenly thought about the foreign exchange problem again, and vaguely felt that it was not so simple, so he said: "Send a telegram to Volpiga, and ask him to allocate all the extra foreign exchange during this period to the Union Bank......

"President, this is not easy, is it?"

"If there's anything unpleasant, just dismantle! If the interest is calculated according to the standard of 3 months, it will not be troublesome, right? ”

Francisco thought to himself that this was clearly a money-losing move, so why did he do it? The United Group will not really use the $1.2 billion in foreign exchange, but will have to pay a lot of interest.

"Do what I do, then explain."

Since Contini wants to do it, Francisco can only do it first, and then listen to the explanation.

"First of all, this $1.2 billion is the extra foreign exchange this time, and I know very well that this is not the norm and will recover soon, but if it is not in our hands, what do you guess the Treasury will do when it is squeezed? Do you want to pay as required? ”

Francisco shook his head: how is it possible, it must be who gives the power to whom first!

"This inevitably leaves room for rent-seeking, so I'm going to take it into my own hands and use my own methods to control the flow of foreign exchange. As for the interest ......," Contini shrugged, "as if I had contributed to the country, what year would the United Group not pay tribute to the state treasury?" More than paying taxes! ”

Volpi, who received the telegram, agreed to transfer foreign exchange to the Union Bank, but with one additional condition: it could increase the liquidity of the Union, but it would not allow long-term loans to be issued, otherwise it would be troublesome if it could not be recovered at the end of three months.

As soon as the matter here came to an end, Leo sent another telegram, saying that more than 30 million barrels of oil had been sold, and the price was around $1.05.

Contini thought for a moment: "We have 10 days to arrive in Rome, and you can make an announcement that the United Group will make a timely purchase, and the standard is that the price of the next month contract for three consecutive trading days is less than $1 regardless of the opening price, closing price, and average price, and we will make the acquisition." ”

This is tantamount to putting forward more stringent conditions, but it also gives the market a boost of confidence, and oil prices rebounded in the next two days.

On June 14, new news came out that the Algerian oil fields have produced more than 10,000 tons per day, and there is no doubt that the supply will exceed 4 million tons next year, while the Libyan oil fields have also produced more than 3,000 tons, and the total oil production of the two fields is expected to exceed 5.5 million tons and nearly 40 million barrels. At the same time, Romanian and Persian oil fields are also increasing production, and market analysts believe that oil prices may stabilize around $0.9-1 for a long time, and say that the European market may reach 20 million to 30 million barrels of oversupply.

As soon as the news came out, it immediately attracted great attention from the market, and three days before Contini returned to Rome, oil prices finally struggled to break the $1 mark, barely closing at $1.01 at the end of the session, but shaky. At the opening of the next day, oil prices opened at $0.99 and then continued to fall, closing at 0.97 by the end of the session – the first trading day to meet the criteria for storage.

On the second day, on the third day, the news changed in the United States, and although it once rose to $0.99 halfway, it still failed to break the $1 ceiling. According to Leo's observations, there were at least 40,000 slips hanging at the $1 place that day.

The good news is that Contini is finally back in Rome, and the bad news is that the collection must be set in motion – otherwise the market will question the credibility of the United Group. Now the major newspapers are eagerly waiting to see if the United Group will really go back on its word.

On the evening of the day of his return, the United Group held a press conference, in which Contini said categorically: "The United Group will carry out an open acquisition, and we will soon collect and store the crude oil delivered in July, no matter how much, we will play a role in stabilizing the market, during this period, in order to take into account the overall situation, the crude oil from the two oil fields of United Petroleum will not be sold to the outside world for the time being, and will directly enter the storage ......"

"Do they really want to store?"

"Yes, it doesn't look like a fake, and he's only in charge of near-month contracts."

"Then throw it to him......"

"Don't throw it, he will absorb it, you see......"

As traders struggled to write, they only saw that the operating representative of the United Group directly placed a buy order at 0.97, and the first transaction was 20,000 contracts - representing 20 million barrels of crude oil.

This position is not easy to bluff the market, because the whole of Europe counts all the current supply capacity of United Oil, which is the supply of 20 million barrels of crude oil a month, which means that the United Group has taken over? There are these 20,000 orders at the bottom below, and the prices above 0.98 and 0.99 are very active. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, with Leo's order, another 10,000 orders were smashed directly at the price of 0.99, and all the small fish and shrimp traded nearby were eaten cleanly.

"It looks like it's not a small hand, keep throwing it to him! Dump the August contract! ”

This tug-of-war lasted for 4 days, and the United Group sucked up more than 30 million barrels of crude oil contracts, and then entered July, and now the focus of market attention has shifted to the August contract, and the August contract delivery period is still a full 45 days!

This is a deadline that is prone to change.

"The fish has been hooked, and the foreign exchange can be moved here!"

With Jacob's order, on July 6, the tidal wave of lira began to respond to the call to refute the rumors and exchange for the foreign exchange that had been released: only four days later, Volpi asked Francisco for help - the central bank had less than $40 million in foreign exchange, and asked them to quickly return the $1.2 billion.

Contini shook his head: "Tell Volpi that I will not return it if it has not arrived in 3 months, and the central bank can issue a notice informing that due to technical failures, the United Bank will temporarily perform the foreign exchange business on behalf of the company...... I want to see who is behind the scenes, and in addition, inform all Italian banks that large foreign loans must be approved by us, otherwise don't blame me for being ruthless! ”