Pete went back to addressing the trading floor. ‘You can also tell clients that we’ll be reviewing our Euro–Swiss and Dollar–Swiss spreads every ten minutes and try to bring them in. And as for Euro–Dollar, we’ll make a five point spread,’ Pete announced.
The salespeople, with the exception of Neil, were buoyed by these announcements.
Pete looked over at Luke. ‘Luke, how are Dollar–Yen and the Aussie and Kiwi?’
‘They were choppy for about ten minutes, but they’ve settled down now,’ Luke said.
‘Good. Five point spreads on those as well, OK?’ Pete directed.
‘Got it,’ Luke responded.
‘OK, ladies and gentlemen, let’s get to work then, shall we?’ Pete said encouragingly and sat down with his hand ready above his dealer board.
Pete waited as sales people called their clients. He heard them roughly following the script he had used on Neil and in some cases heard muffled shouting on the other end of the line, but then the orders began to trickle in. Salespeople started calling out orders and traders responded with prices. As the flow of deals steadily increased, people began shouting in order to be heard. A few salespeople asked for better prices on behalf of clients, but Pete and the junior traders held firm on their spreads and most of the time the orders got done anyway. Pete imagined that the scene was what an orderly Crisis would have looked like.
When things quietened down, Pete stood up to stretch and looked at the clock. ‘About seven o’clock. A quick walk over to MBS and I’d still be in time to catch Cats at eight,’ Pete said.
He glanced down at Johnno and waited for one of his usual clever quips. But Johnno stared sulkily at his screens.
‘Wow, we made some decent money out of that flow, didn’t we Johnno?’ Pete tried to get Johnno’s attention.
‘Yeah, but not anywhere near enough to make up for the two hundred grand I dusted,’ he said sullenly.
‘To be honest, Johnno, I have mixed feelings about the SNB at the moment,’ Pete said.
Johnno turned to look at Pete. ‘Why’s that?’ he inquired.
‘Despite them costing us two hundred grand, they’ve given me an excuse to get out of Cats,’ Pete said with a smirk.
Johnno’s miserable expression cracked into a smile. ‘Yeah, how’s Liz with that?’ he asked.
‘Good actually. She understood completely and even said she’d bring some dinner in for me,’ Pete answered.
‘She’s a keeper that Liz,’ Johnno remarked.
‘Yeah, don’t I know it,’ Pete replied, but then went on in a more serious tone, ‘Listen, Johnno, tonight’s not your fault, mate. There’s no way you could’ve known that the SNB was going to ditch its peg. Hell, there doesn’t seem to be any reason…’ Pete’s thoughts were caught on his last word as his brain began to race off in a different direction. He smiled slyly.
‘Johnno, where’s Euro–Dollar relative to where it was before the “de-peg”?’ he said.
Johnno looked at Pete curiously and asked, ‘Why? What are you thinking?’
‘I’m not sure yet,’ Pete responded as he moved over to Johnno’s desk and Johnno swivelled in his chair to face his screen. Johnno brought up a candlestick chart of the Euro–Dollar exchange rate.
Pete huddled over Johnno’s screen as Johnno began tracing the exchange rate’s path with his index finger. ‘It crashed and stayed down here for a bit but has bounced back to be pretty much where it was before this whole mess,’ he described.
Pete’s smile turned wolfish. ‘Johnno, I think there’s a way to make a load of money out of this,’ he said.
‘And how’s that?’ Johnno probed.
‘Think about it. Why did the SNB abandon its peg today of all days?’ Pete asked.
Johnno looked at Pete, puzzled. ‘I don’t know. They’ve been getting a lot of bad press about how much money they’ve been losing supporting it.’
‘That’s right, but they’ve been getting heckled about that for a while. So why dump the peg now?’ Pete asked. Johnno shrugged.
Pete stood up to see the backs of Research, who were furiously typing at their computers. ‘Hey brains trust. I’ve got a conspiracy theory I’d like to run by you,’ Pete said.
They all turned around and Bruce said, ‘Sure, let’s hear it.’
‘The SNB de-pegged today because they’ve got the heads up from the ECB that they’re going to start printing money next week, which would kill the Euro and cause the SNB to lose even more money defending its peg. So, the SNB has decided to cut its losses now. Is that possible? Do these bastards talk?’ Pete asked.
Bruce paused to think, then smiled. ‘Yes Pete, they do talk. And now that you mention it, we’re exactly a week out from the ECB’s next meeting, which is exactly when the board members have a conference call and informally agree on what they’re going to do at that meeting. So, the timing matches your conspiracy theory,’ Bruce said.
‘So, we should be selling Euro–Dollar, right?’ Pete asked.
Bruce looked over at Chen and they both nodded. ‘We agree one hundred and twenty per cent,’ Bruce replied.
Pete laughed. ‘Wow, comic wit from Research. It is a special evening and I’m not even at the theatre yet. Thanks,’ Pete added and sat back down. ‘Let’s get moving on this before the market wakes up to it,’ he said to Johnno as they both tapped away at their dealer boards. Pete looked over at Luke. ‘Lucas, you catch all that, mate?’ he asked.
Luke grinned and said, ‘Just sold some Euro–Dollars myself, Moggy.’
‘Good,’ Pete replied.
Pete’s iPhone buzzed; it was Liz. He looked at the time. Crap, seven o’clock. He answered the phone. ‘Hey Liz. You downstairs?’
‘Nope, just heading over your way in a cab now. Everything all right?’ Liz asked, a little nervously.
‘Yeah, the market hasn’t collapsed, and I think I’ve worked out a way we can actually make money out of this mess,’ Pete said.
‘Well that’s great to hear. I guess I’ll be seeing you at the theatre then?’ Liz replied.
Pete grimaced and smacked the palm of his hand against his forehead, which elicited chuckles from Luke and Johnno. ‘Well maybe not just yet. I still have some tidying up to do on some positions,’ Pete said.
‘OK then, I’ll leave your ticket and dinner at the theatre office,’ Liz offered and then gave new directions to the cab driver.
‘Eh? I thought you were bringing my dinner to work?’ Pete said, confused.
‘If you want your dinner, you’re going to have to come and get it,’ Liz said with a smile in her voice.
Pete imagined Liz sitting in the cab jiggling a bag with his bowl of noodles inside. It reminded him of the way his mum used to shake a bag of dried cat food to call her pets to dinner. He chuckled and said, ‘Well aren’t you the regular comedian.’
‘I think so,’ Liz said, laughing.
‘I’m not getting out of Cats tonight, am I?’ Pete groaned. Johnno and Luke smirked, and he responded by raising his middle finger.
‘No, you’re not,’ Liz insisted politely.
‘All right. I’ll just finish some things up here and then head over to the theatre. I’ll probably get there around the same time as you. Look for me at the box office,’ he said surrendering and then hung up.
‘That’s a big promise, don’t you think?’ Johnno asked.
‘Why’s that? The theatre’s a ten-minute walk from here and the show starts at eight,’ Pete replied.
‘Yeah, but you’re going to sit here and watch your position, right? It’s pretty massive,’ Johnno said.
‘Nope, Johnno. You’re going to sit here and watch my position, along with your own. You know where my stoploss is and you know where I want to take profit. Check the liquidity in Euro–Swiss and Dollar–Swiss every ten minutes and try and bring in their spreads as best you can,’ Pete added, then stood up. ‘You’re easily good enough to handle things from here, mate,’ Pete said, patting Johnno on the should
er. ‘I’ll see you guys in the morning,’ he added and headed towards the door.
Hearing the exchange, Neil stood up. ‘Leaving during a big event again I see Pete. That’s good leadership,’ he said sarcastically.
Pete contemplated the reason for Neil’s taunt and quickly came to the conclusion that he was trying to regain some pride after being admonished by Pete earlier in the evening. He decided to give Neil as little airtime as possible. ‘Johnno and Luke can look after things fine, Neil, just like they did the last time I left things in their capable hands.’ He turned back towards the door, barely breaking his stride.
‘You sure of that? One of them just lost a lot of money,’ Neil said, taunting Pete further.
Pete stopped dead in his tracks, but before he turned around he took a breath and focused on the burning sun that had just exploded into life in his mind and was shining brightly on all his potential angry responses to Neil. It took a couple of seconds for the sun to dim but Pete stayed focused on it, trying to get it to set. His meditation was interrupted by a salesperson yelling out for a price in Euro–Dollar. The client had got wind of Pete’s idea and was selling.
Pete broke out of his meditation, his anger only modestly relieved. As he turned around to face the trading floor, Pete saw that Johnno’s head had dipped, which caused his angry sun to flare a little. ‘You know what, Neil? You really are an ungrateful bastard. My team just helped a lot of your clients get out of bad positions at decent levels and good spreads for your salespeople. So stop treating them like crap! And as for leadership, I’m the one that had to give your team a pep talk because you were being too much of a whiney-baby to do it yourself. You really failed to show up tonight Neil and I think that shows just how much of a shit Head of Sales you are and I don’t know how anyone could work for you.’
Pete’s response was different from the tirade he had unloaded on Derek nearly a year ago. It was an assertive assessment of reality. And, unlike his tirade against Derek, the audience was now strongly in Pete’s favour and looking at Neil with disdain while waiting for his reply. Neil, however, gave a quick look behind Pete, snorted and walked off the trading floor and into the bathroom. The trading floor resumed its busy hum, scarcely noticing Neil’s absence.
Pete turned to leave and saw Whitey standing behind him at the edge of the trading floor. ‘What was all that about Pete?’ he asked cooly.
‘Someone needed their nappy changed,’ Pete said tersely and walked out.
Pete spotted Liz in the crowd. She was wearing the dress he had bought for her birthday, which caused him to smile warmly. As if sensing Pete’s gaze, Liz turned and smiled warmly back at him. Then as Pete approached Liz, she hurriedly thrust a plastic bag holding his bowl of noodles at him and said, ‘Sorry, I really have to go to the bathroom.’
‘OK, thanks,’ Pete said grabbing the bag. He then received a quick peck on the lips from Liz before she headed for the long queue outside the ladies’ bathroom.
Pete was now slurping up the last of his bowl of soupy noodles as Liz returned. ‘Well, would you look at this stray eating all alone near a garbage can?’ Liz said as she came over and gave Pete a peck on the cheek.
Pete turned around and noticed that, by pure coincidence, he was standing near a garbage bin. He chuckled and said, ‘How appropriate. I guess that makes you the Lady?’
‘And you the Tramp,’ Liz said, smiling.
‘Yeah, I prefer dog stories,’ Pete quipped.
‘How are the noodles?’
‘Great,’ Pete said as he wiped his mouth with a tissue. ‘Thanks, I really needed them. The likely alternative was takeaway pizza with Johnno and Luke,’ Pete added and then turned to dump his used bowl and chopsticks into the garbage bin.
Liz’s looked suddenly serious. ‘How is everything tonight? We OK?’ she asked.
‘The Desk took a pretty big hit, but we’re making a bit of the money back now,’ Pete replied. He then dug into his back pocket for his iPhone. ‘Sorry, I should quickly check things before we head in, just in case there’s no reception in there.’
Pete checked the screen as Liz looked on concerned, then Pete smirked. ‘Well now we’re actually making money off tonight. The Euro’s dropping like a stone,’ Pete added, holding his iPhone up for Liz to see a chart lit up with a red background and a line descending rapidly.
‘Pete, never mind all that,’ Liz said, brushing aside his iPhone. ‘How are you? You sounded pretty stressed earlier. And what if that position suddenly flips the other way, like it’s done in the past? Are you going to come crashing down with it?’
Liz’s question quelled Pete’s excitement. ‘Yeah, I see your point, but this time’s different.’
‘And how’s that?’
‘Because tonight, it wasn’t just the trading I got right. I really led and managed a team well and was actually useful. I know I didn’t save the world or anything, but at least I stopped making it worse,’ Pete said. A look of contentment came over his face and he added, ‘And the best thing is I didn’t need antidepressants to do it.’
‘So, how does that make you feel?’ Liz said with a mischievous smile.
Pete smirked and answered seriously, ‘It’s the first time that I’ve felt whole again since...’ and he too had to hold back tears of joy.
Liz and Pete reached out to embrace each other as they shared their relief from the burden of Pete’s illness. The bell rang to call the audience back into the theatre, interrupting their hug. Pete smiled at Liz, held out his hand and said, ‘Well, shall we get this over with?’
Liz wiped away her tears and took his hand with a smile and they headed into the theatre.
The lights dimmed as they sat down. Pete reached for his iPhone and turned it off.
Liz saw the screen light go out. ‘Don’t you have a position to keep track of?’ she whispered.
‘Johnno can handle it, I’m here to spend time with you,’ Pete said.
Liz raised her eyebrows in surprise and then grabbed one of his arms and interlocked it with her own.
After about thirty minutes into the first act, Pete leaned over and whispered to Liz, ‘Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t make out the story.’
Liz stifled a laugh. ‘Neither can I,’ she whispered.
‘So, it’s just a bunch of cats singing about other cats?’
‘I guess so,’ Liz agreed.
‘Someone should make a musical about dogs. Then they’d have a real story to tell.’
44
London calling
Pete was typing a name into Google as Nick came over to his desk and looked over his shoulder. ‘Deepak Chopra, who the hell is that?’ Nick asked.
Pete turned around, surprised to see Nick. ‘Some potential big shot Indian client that Sales mentioned. It doesn’t hurt to KYC1,’ Pete added, trying to cover up the fact that he was about to start researching a modern-day meditation guru.
‘It’s Sales’ job to do background checks on clients, not yours,’ Nick said.
‘Yeah, but I thought it’d be fun to see how much of a big shot this guy really is. Anyway, what can I do for you, Nick?’ Pete asked, trying to change the subject.
‘I need to chat to you for a bit,’ Nick replied and motioned to Pete to follow him.
Nick walked to an empty part of the trading floor. ‘The London guys want you up there for a client trip next week. You think you can manage that?’
‘Wow, talk about short notice. Can Janet handle a booking in so little time?’ Pete asked, hoping for an excuse not to go.
‘Yeah, she does it for me all the time,’ Nick answered.
‘Why are they so desperate to get me up there anyway?’ Pete queried.
‘They think that they can get a bit more business from clients by showing you off in a road show after your Swiss de-peg heroics,’ Nick explained.
‘Yeah, but the trip means I’d be away from my desk and not trading,’ Pete offered as another excuse not to go.
‘C’mon Pete.
We both know you’re well ahead of budget. Hell, it’s only March and you’ve made over half of it already. If I were in your position, I’d be jumping at the chance to take it easy and go and eat and drink with some clients, maybe get some ideas from them,’ Nick said.
Pete smiled ruefully. ‘Nick, we both know these roadshows are hard work. You do client meetings all day and then go drinking with clients until all hours of the morning. And then have to front up and do it all again the next day. And you have to do all that with jetlag!’
‘You won’t have to do much in the meetings. Chen from Research is going along and will do most of the talking. You’d just have to offer up the occasional market anecdote,’ Nick countered.
‘I don’t know, Nick, I’d prefer to spend some quiet time in Singapore with my family,’ Pete said, still unconvinced.
Nick became frustrated, but managed to lower his voice to a whisper. ‘Pete, in a couple of weeks it’ll be announced that I’m the new Global Head of Trading in London –’
‘Congrats,’ Pete said quietly.
‘Thanks, but it’s not official so keep it to yourself. I’ve already spoken to management about you being my replacement, but it’s still being decided. I think a trip to London by yourself now would really help. I’ll even make sure you get some one-on-one time with Terry Rickard, the big boss,’ Nick offered.
Pete knew Nick was talking sense and he seemed determined to get him on a plane, so he relented, ‘OK, Nick, seeing as you put it that way, I’ll go.’
‘Good. You’ve made things a lot easier for me, Pete,’ Nick said, patting Pete on the shoulder. ‘I’ll go over and get Janet started on the booking now,’ he added and walked away.
Pete woke to the sound of his iPhone and could not recall where he was. Then he remembered – London, Wednesday morning. He also remembered setting his alarm for seven am and was surprised that he still felt terrible after getting a solid seven hours’ sleep. It was his first decent night’s sleep since arriving in London. ‘I must really be tired,’ Pete thought as he rolled over to look at his iPhone and then realised that it was a phone call rather than his alarm. He noticed the time on the screen: Five thirty!
Learning to Fly: A story about overcoming depression Page 21