MM057: Mr 'Big Shot' gets squeezed

This week, Nickel, used in stainless steel and electric-vehicle batteries, surged as much as 250% in just two days to trade briefly above $100,000 a ton, in what otherwise can only be described as a parabolic move.

Xiang Guangda a.k.a 'Big Shot' -- who controls the world’s largest nickel producer, Tsingshan Holding Group Co. was the main culprit behind the move, having amassed a short position on the London Metal Exchange (LME) is in the region of 100,000 tons of nickel. 

We look at the mechanics behind the short squeeze and explain how the LME ring works, and whether market manipulation and governance issues plague the last remaining open outcry floor in Europe.

Also up for discussion, is the 20-for-1 stock split announced by mega-cap tech stock Amazon, its first split since 1999 and fourth since Amazon’s IPO in 1997. Find out how a stock split works in practice, why companies choose to do it, and what it means for the share price.

Finally, we talk about fixed-income fund manager PIMCO, who is reported to have billions of dollars riding on the economic fallout from Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, after amassing a wager worth at least $1bn in derivatives markets that the country will NOT default. We explain how Credit Default Swaps (CDS) work and why sanctions on Russia may have unintended consequences on the West.

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