Torn (Jay Gunner, #1) by Gerald Greene Read Free Book Online Page A

she looked at the Yen chart. “At least our Yen trade is ignoring the news. Go Yen, baby go. This year I want to vacation in Bali and stay at a five star hotel.”
    It was one week until the unemployment report. I hadn’t heard from Brian. I wondered if Brian was able to hack into the Department of Labor computers. Every day I would log into my special web page. So far no messages. Nothing at all.
    Finally, at 8:00 PM on the first Friday of the month, a “ready” message appeared. It was 8:00 AM in Washington, DC. The report was due in 30 minutes.
    “Joy buy 50 Million Dollar/Yen market.”
    “What! So close to the report?”
    “Just do it. I’ve got a strong feeling the report will rally the Dollar. We’ll be quick to cover and bank a few hundred thousand to cap off our week.”
    The market expected the unemployment rate to drop and non-farm payroll jobs to disappoint. Brian’s information indicated quite the opposite. Brian’s data on my new computer showed the economy improving. The Dollar should move higher with Yen losing ground, at least for the first few minutes after the release.
    “Ok boss. We’re in there. I have 25 million at Citibank and 25 million at Chase. Hope you’re right.”
    “Be ready to cover. In this trade we won’t stick around long. We’ll let our long term positions run, but on the 50 million take fast profits.”
    I was usually cool as a cucumber while at the trading desk. But at 8:29 I was sweating. Even worse, I needed to pee. There was no time now. I would have to squirm in my chair and tough it out. There it was.
    Joy let out a little whistle. She knew we’d soon be in the money. “Good call Jay”, was all she said.
    The news feed unemployment report data matched up with data posted on my website’s secret page. Before the release the Dollar sold off and the position was at a $50,000 loss. At 8:31 the Dollar zoomed higher and the position moved to a $150,000 profit.
    The Yen chart showed a green line moving straight up the chart as Yen weakened against the Dollar. Beautiful. As Yen weakness accelerated profit ballooned to $525,000. There was a moment of hesitation; profit backed up to $415,000. I grew tense before Yen weakness kicked in again and accelerated. At 8:41 the profit reached $980,000.
    “Cover! That’s good enough. Let’s not be greedy.”
    Joy was lightning fast with the dealing service. Faster than me, that’s why I trusted her with filling orders. “Done boss. Wahoo! That’s a good eleven minutes work. Your hunch was spot on.”
    Within seconds of my order to cover and take profits, Yen began to give up some of its losses. My timing was immaculate. I earned $980,000 for the company. 20 percent would go into my bonus pool. Out of that $196,000 I would pay Joy 10 percent or $19,600 leaving me a decent potential bonus of $176,400. Of course, with the Christmas bonus paid once a year, I had to maintain profits within the pool.
    The first thing I did after covering the position was to run to the men’s room. I was about to explode. I returned a huge smile lighting up my face. “Joy, let’s call it a wrap. It’s been a long week. That was a great way to close it out.”
    “Sounds good to me boss. Think I’ll go straight home. First, I feed my cat. A close second will be open a nice bottle of red wine. For sure I’ll look through that dreamy looking brochure about vacationing in Bali. I love this job.”
    “It’s exciting isn’t it? But I need to work at staying cool. I was a little nervous waiting for the report. I’ll have to fix that. Nervousness leads to mistakes.”
    “I suggest you pee beforehand. That’ll help. I noticed the desperate look on your face before the report and, as soon as we covered, the nonstop run to the men’s room.

10 – Taking Profits
    T he month passed by in a flash. Brian Andrews name was all over the news, but within a few days the uproar quickly died down. Every official in the Obama government branded him a lousy