Reborn in America, I am a legendary short seller on Wall Street.

Chapter 16 The Gambling Kid
The moment Larry heard DuPont's offer, a surge of fervent joy welled up in his eyes, but he quickly managed to suppress his emotions and his face returned to calm.

The receptionist, who wore a monocle, snapped his pencil in half with a "snap" when he heard that DuPont's stock price had soared to over $100. He then slumped back into his chair, clutching his chest.

The casino tellers noticed the manager's unusual behavior and crowded around him, shouting.

"Mr. Amon, how are you? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

The front desk manager clutched his chest, a pained expression on his face. He opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word.

Finally, the tense-looking front desk manager could only slowly raise his arm and point to Larry Livingston in the distance.

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a group of customers standing in front of the price list. They exchanged glances, still not understanding what Mr. Amon was trying to say...

"Oh……"

The front desk manager couldn't catch his breath and immediately fainted...

The casino staff hurriedly carried the manager out of the trading hall, onto a horse-drawn carriage, and took him to the nearest hospital.

However, the chaos in the gambling den did not affect Larry. He currently holds 200 shares of DuPont and 100 shares of Holt Manufacturing.

These 300 shares cost him a full $300! And that was his entire fortune.

After the brief chaos at the betting shop subsided, trading order was restored, and the few people who had been distracted by the front desk manager's fainting began to refocus their attention on the price board.

The quoting machine continued its usual clicking and spitting out three-inch strips of paper in a rhythmic motion.

The dark-haired boy stood guard at the price quote machine, filtering out the less popular stocks that the betting companies didn't trade, and constantly calling out the latest quotes to the price scribe...

"New York Commercial District, $45!"

"Barton Mining, $9.15!"

The stock prices of these companies have actually fallen compared to earlier this week.

The United States is still affected by deflation. Agricultural prices have been plummeting, and the largest consumer group in the United States has become unable to spend money due to the impact of deflation. As a result, the performance of companies across the market is generally poor. Even the once highly profitable railroad companies have reduced the frequency of dividend payments.

The stock prices of other companies will naturally fall gradually.

Larry originally intended to short the market before Christmas because he was not optimistic about the overall trend.

But the overall performance of the arms companies changed Larry's mind, and he is now fully invested in the arms sector.

Larry had a hunch that the hype was in line with the national conditions: when people are struggling, they should prepare for war!

Here come the latest arms company quotes!
Larry waited anxiously for the latest quotes from the arms companies. Every time the quote machine clicked, he couldn't help but look away...

at last,

"Harrington and Richardson Arms, $16.9!"

"United Steel, $42.3!"

"Hilton boiler, $18.5!"

“Made by Holt, $51 and a quarter!”

Larry glanced down at his Holt Manufacturing quote, where the buy price was $46.25!

The arms sector saw a rapid surge in the afternoon!

This explosive performance stands in stark contrast to the sluggish stock market. Stock traders on Wall Street and across the country have turned their attention to the arms sector and have begun to chase after it, further accelerating the sector's upward trend!
Larry was now 100% certain that his investment was a complete success; now it was just a matter of how much profit he could ultimately make.

Just then, the latest DuPont stock price was also released.

"DuPont, exactly $104!!"

A gasp of surprise rippled through the brokerage office as everyone turned to look at Larry, the blond-haired boy. He was already quite conspicuous in the betting industry because of his youth, and the scene of him throwing around $200 to buy stocks that afternoon was still fresh in everyone's mind.

At the time, many people thought this gambling addict would go bankrupt, believing that he had simply stolen his parents' money to gamble away and would eventually be consumed by his own madness.

But at this moment, everyone stared at the blond boy, marveling at his extraordinary courage and good fortune.

"What a gambler!" someone exclaimed.

Larry heard the address, looked somewhat bewildered in the direction of the voice, then smiled nonchalantly and turned back to continue looking at the price quote board.

.

By 2:30 PM, the rise in the arms sector had gained market consensus. At this time, Wall Street insiders were spreading even more bizarre news, such as the US Navy's plan to switch to a new energy source, primarily oil, completely abandoning the world's most widely used coal and steam engines.

Some say that the next goal of the U.S. Navy will be to build a fleet of U.S. battleships that can rival the world’s newest battleships, and that this maritime dominance will become the standard configuration of the U.S. Navy.
Some have confidently asserted that the Navy's new shipbuilding program will adopt a "small steps, quick progress" approach, with each small batch of battleships and cruisers undergoing iterative upgrades based on existing mature technologies. During this period, the "small steps, quick progress" shipbuilding program will also foster the US shipbuilding industry into the world's most powerful breeding ground for new warships.

The escalation of the rumors triggered a further rise in related stocks.

Near the close of trading, the arms sector experienced a sharp rise due to escalating rumors circulating in the market.

Of course, Larry, who worked at a small betting shop in Boston, was unaware of this. He could only see that, near the end of the trading day, the already frenzied arms stocks began to go crazy again!

"DuPont, $106 and a quarter!"

"Made by Holt, $53.5!"

This means that Larry's three trades, totaling 300 shares, have already resulted in a profit exceeding $2000!

This is an enormous fortune that Larry never dared to dream of before.

Without further hesitation, Larry turned around, walked to the trading counter, and slammed his three trading slips on the table.

"I want to close all three positions!"

The tellers were dumbfounded. They knew Larry had been gambling heavily today and that he had made a lot of money, but they really didn't want to face Larry cashing out those profits!
Now, three transaction slips are slammed on the table, which means that the worst outcome that everyone was trying to avoid has come to pass.

The teller turned around and looked at a tall, gray-haired man who was temporarily acting as the front desk manager, and found that he also had a livid face.

(End of this chapter)