Chapter 45: V-Shaped Uptrend

As the First-Quarter Regular Meeting of the Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee drew to a close, Zhou Chuan, Gong Xiaofei, and other members of the committee began taking questions from international journalists.

"We will now take questions from the press."

The assistant offered a polite reminder.

"Swish, swish, swish—"

Standing in the press section of the conference hall, a sea of reporters eagerly raised their hands.

Scanning the room, the conference assistant pointed to a specific journalist and said, "The one in the blue high-necked short sleeve."

"Governor Zhou, hello. This is Reuters. You mentioned earlier that 18 railway projects have been approved with a total investment reaching 500 billion. Could you share the specific allocation of these funds?"

The Reuters reporter posed the question.

Glancing at the notes on his desk, Zhou Chuan answered unhurriedly, "The primary use of the 500 billion in railway project funding is for the procurement of raw materials, alongside the payment of wages for construction workers. Vigorously developing railway infrastructure is not only beneficial to the nation and its people, but it also serves as a crucial hub connecting regional economies."

"Next."

The assistant reminded the room.

"This is Bloomberg. On the eve of the Central Bank's First-Quarter Monetary Policy Committee Meeting, the capital markets widely anticipated a new investment plan. Currently, both the A-share and Hong Kong stock markets have turned from gains to losses. What is Governor Zhou's stance on this?"

The Bloomberg reporter's question struck a chord in the hearts of millions of retail investors.

Whether Reuters or Bloomberg, their inquiries leaned toward the capital markets, which were of paramount concern to foreign capital.

After a brief pause and careful consideration, Zhou Chuan replied, "The Four-Trillion-Yuan Investment Plan currently has sufficient funding with plenty of leeway. Furthermore, the manufacturing PMI data for March has provided robust support for the economic recovery. We possess both the determination and the confidence to win this critical economic battle."

"Next."

The assistant looked toward other reporters.

"I am Zhong Minghui, a reporter for Phoenix Television. I would like to ask Governor Zhou: this meeting neither mentioned adjustments to interest rates and the reserve requirement ratio, nor did it introduce any new investment plans. Can this be interpreted as the Four-Trillion-Yuan Investment Plan being sufficient to guide China out of the shadow of the subprime mortgage crisis?"

The Phoenix Television reporter introduced themselves before posing the question.

Well-prepared, Zhou Chuan responded with composure, "We will maintain a moderately loose monetary policy, optimize the credit structure, guard against financial risks, actively seek out economic pillars, and accelerate the economic recovery."

"Next."

"This is the Amer—"

...

Under Governor Zhou's watertight answers, the capital markets gradually began to react. The banking sector, which had been trending downward, slowly stabilized before climbing back up.

Meanwhile,

Li Dachao published another blog post.

[Maintaining a moderately loose monetary policy indicates that market-rescue funds will continue to flow steadily into the capital markets. My friends, I have said it many times: buy good stocks, be a good person, and reap good rewards. The baby bottom of the Chinese stock market has formed!]

Accompanied by an image of a baby, the long-form post once again ignited the enthusiasm of retail investors.

[Colorful Spectrum]: Teacher Dachao, can I still trust you? Last time, you comforted me all the way down from 6,000 points to 1,800 points. If I didn't still have an e-bike for delivery work, I probably would have jumped!

[Bloodthirsty White Fox]: Buy good stocks, be a good person, and reap good rewards. Say no more, Teacher Dachao, I'm going all-in with 100k on the CSI 300 ETF!

[Rolling Curtains Against the West Wind]: This meeting carried a massive amount of information. Although there was no interest rate cut and no new investment plan, that doesn't necessarily mean bad news. It's like a fever that can be cured with a single ibuprofen tablet—taking two is completely pointless. Moderation is always best.

[Lonely Wolf]: Indeed. The attitude Governor Zhou has consistently conveyed to us is that the authorities possess ample capability and strength to weather this economic crisis sweeping across the globe.

As the market began to digest the news, foreign capital moved a step ahead.

In less than 10 seconds, northbound capital swept up 10 billion yuan worth of CSI 300 ETFs.

Realizing the situation belatedly, domestic main-force capital also began snapping up assets in the capital market.

Hot money formed the third echelon, hastily entering the fray. By the time retail investors—belonging to the fourth echelon—reacted, the benchmark index had already rebounded by 0.34Into the green, leaving them zero opportunity.

Want to get in?

You could only chase the highs!

Foreign capital, domestic capital, hot money, and retail investors formed a complete chain of information transmission.

Many retail investors loved trading stocks based on news headlines. Leaving aside whether news might be leaked in advance, in terms of cognitive level alone, a vast number of retail investors lacked market interpretation skills, which only magnified the lag in information.

To make money in the A-shares or any other capital market, one must first elevate their own cognitive grasp of the market.

...

Shanghai Finance and Economics University.

The Library.

Financial Analysis Room.

Looking at the fluctuating trend lines on the time-sharing chart, Zhang Yang felt as calm as still water. He had known this outcome in advance, more so than anyone else.

This was one of the few high-profile meetings he still retained impressions of.

Opening the earnings page of his securities account, his position of 120,000 yuan fully invested in the Big Four state-owned banks had already brought him a 2.3% gain, amounting to 2,760 yuan.

Now that his capital volume had scaled up, every single tick of the point fluctuation could potentially equal a month's salary for an ordinary worker.

As for the 20,000 yuan used to board the limit-up on ST Zhongfangji, the stock had been locked in another limit-up by the market makers. For now, it yielded zero profit and even incurred a transaction fee loss of over 30 yuan.

After reviewing his live-trading account, Zhang Yang checked Xu Zhiruo's simulated portfolio.

Her total return rate was 2.4%, but her capital volume stood at 930,000 yuan, yielding a profit of 22,300 yuan, alongside 300,000 yuan tied up—likewise in ST Zhongfangji.

Having verified the required profitable account returns, Zhang Yang used Lai Weijie's simulated account to chase the highs on the Big Four banks.

Through reverse operations of "clearing positions on dips and increasing positions on highs," he successfully "boosted" Lai Weijie's total capital of 1.52 million down to 1.49 million, representing a decline of 1.9%.

"Controlling scores precisely is really hard."

Zhang Yang could not help but sigh.

He had intentionally operated toward losses, yet he could only manage to make Lai Weijie's account lose 1.9%. It genuinely consumed more brainpower than making a profit.

The trickiest part was that he couldn't use the limit-up boarding strategy to lose money; if it suddenly dropped by 10%, he would have to spend time and effort helping it rally back later, which was tedious and exhausting.

True to the saying: getting a perfect score doesn't necessarily make you a top student, but someone who can manipulate their score to any target at will is undeniably a true genius.

Of course, manipulating scores at will meant having the ability to hit a perfect score, rather than simply being restricted to scraping points below fifty.

...

As the morning trading session of the A-shares concluded, the V-shaped trajectory of the Shanghai Composite Index caused many students at Shanghai Finance to suffer losses.

Not just Shanghai Finance, but graduating seniors majoring in investment at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and Central University of Finance and Economics experienced a collective Waterloo.

After all, no one expected a single meeting to yield such diverse interpretations.

Meanwhile, over at the Central University of Finance and Economics, in the investment faculty office.

Professor Shi Xinrong looked at the latest statistical breakdown of his class's earnings and burst into anger, "This is the worst batch of students I have ever taught. They don't even possess independent interpretive skills."

Academician Peng Ge had told him to pay close attention and lead his students to surpass Shanghai Finance. Surpass them? They couldn't even surpass an egg under these conditions!

In truth, the graduating investment students at Central Finance couldn't entirely be blamed; numerous institutional funds had tripped up amid the unpredictable morning movements.

Who could have foreseen that the meeting would render the positive sentiment brewed over the previous two days obsolete? Who could have anticipated that the interview segment would undergo a complete polar reversal?

Students had their dilemmas, but professors had their hardships too.

Central Finance's A-plus major was being overshadowed by Shanghai Finance's B-plus major. When the next academic evaluation arrived, the major might very well face a downgrade.

The most critical issue right now was that the dean of their School of Finance was an academician in the financial sector. With junior generations of their scholarly lineage withering away, walking out as an academician would make anyone feel stripped of face.