The year I turned 26 I made $49 million. Which made me very angry (the term was another, better to paraphrase, ed) because with 3 others I would have reached a million a week.
Hollywood film buffs will no doubt recognize this famous phrase attributed to Jordan Belfort and revived in the wonderful film made by Martin Scorsese in 2013 with five Oscar nominations. In the movie The Wolf of Wall Street there is a monumental Leonardo Di Caprio in the role of the protagonist, one of the most controversial characters in the history of global finance, a broker with innate sales skills, who in a few years – between 1989 and 1993 – managed to found a stock selling company and lead it to a turnover of over a billion dollars a year, earning itself the nickname The Wolf of Wall Street.
What's happening on Wall Street: the historic financial stock exchange turns out to be weak and unattractive
It is true that Belfort, with his great oratory skills, will be remembered as a man capable of convincing savers on the other end of the phone to buy shares in small companies with dubious growth prospects. However, in that period – i.e. the nineties – they will remain in the annals as the historical moment in which the largest business stock exchange in the world it was the perfect place to increase your turnover, position yourself on the global market and profit from all kinds of transactions. Obviously there were also moments of crisis similar to Black Monday in 1987 (closing at -22% and damage to markets all over the world), but it is precisely in the years following that event that Wall Street broke a number of records.
Of all this, today, only a distant memory remains. The vortex of constant and (only apparently) irreversible growth of the American giant has collapsed under the blows of the real economy which – unlike the stock economy – leaves no margin for error. And there have been many mistakes in recent years, evidenced by the global collapse of 2007 and the immense difficulties that still exist today as a result of that experience. So much so that Wall Street, still at the top of the sector but with a weakness never shown before, is witnessing the flight of many of the largest players in the world economy.
A historic American bank has abandoned Wall Street: what is happening to the largest stock exchange in the world
It could only be the Wall Street Journal to certify the Wall Street crisis. For some time, observing the chain repercussions of the pandemic crisis and international instability, the editorialists of the most authoritative periodical in the sector had issued a worrying alert. A strong concern that became clear to everyone in mid-April, when the “strongest” of the tenants of the US stock exchange announced the decision to pack up, by not renewing their listings on the stock market.
We are talking about JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, with a history of financial activity spanning more than 150 years. Many will remember it precisely at the juncture of 2007: its collapse triggered a series of chain reactions on a global level. Despite this, historically it remains a leading institution for millions of American citizens, a container for savings, investments, policies and purchases. A point of reference which has now understood that it can no longer afford the “floating” in which the great business street.
The announcement of JP Morgan's departure and the repercussions: has Wall Street begun its decline?
Since 2006, the JP Morgan offices on Wall Street were located at number 45, a few steps from the Word Trade Center which occupies a prominent place in the black pages of American history. The desks of the brokers headed by the manager had also survived September 8th Sarah Roselli, manager of the bank's branches in New York. And it was she, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, who formulated a ruthless analysis of the enormous difficulties of the American stock market.
“I feel a feeling of great pain. But, at the same time, my role and the work required of my team require us to make difficult choices. Living and operating in this system every day is like playing a game of bowling: you have to understand when it's time to stop” he said during the interview with the newspaper, showing a face worn by stress and emotion. And it couldn't be otherwise given that the farewell to Wall Street, despite everything, represents a step backwards not only for the credibility of the business locationbut also for those who leave their tents.
Do multinationals also snub Wall Street? Predictions about the future and the need to relaunch
But how are the other large American banks behaving? To date, among the institutions that can compete with JP Morgan Historically and reputationally, they are still solid on Wall Street Bank of America and the rampant Toronto-Dominion. Two actors whose top management, at the moment, have not feared the possibility of abandoning the business path, despite the fact that the elzeviri of the economic newspapers continue to hypothesize their exit from the New York financial market by 2027. Certainly, JP Morgan's move does not will have calmed the spirits in the control rooms of the two institutes.
Added to this very worrying trend is an equally lapidary analysis formulated a few days ago byEconomist. The British periodical pointed out how the large emerging multinationals on the planet – starting with OpenAI and coming from ByteDance (Chinese millionaire company active in the IT sector) – are literally snubbing the possibility of entering Wall Streetpreferring to focus on different markets such as Asia.
If it is true that the farewell of many historic American banks is an unequivocal symptom of the ongoing malaise, the lack of attractiveness towards large emerging capitals could prove to be the final blow. Wall Street must react, it seems it is trying to do so too thanks to the help of artificial intelligencebut the risk is that around Manhattan we find ourselves regretting the unscrupulousness of Jordan Belfort. There's material for a new Oscar-winning film.
