The Express.
London, England, 1847-12-18 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET.

FRIDAY EVENING.
Consols opened at an improvement of upon the
average of yesterday's prices; but upon some sales of
Reduced Threes for money by the Bank broker, they
declined to 85 to 1, were done at 85, but finally left off
85 to 1 for the opening. The sales referred to were
part of a double Operation on account of the savings
banks, for the amount of the stock sold was forthwith
purchased into Exchequer Bills. The operation bears
the character of a beneficial change of securities and
investment. The savings banks' commissioners,
if not the depositors, gain upon the transfer
about 1 per cent. mire interest per annum, the
difference between Reduced paying about 35,
and Exchequer Bills 44 per cent. interest. Re-
duced left off 841 to Three-and•a-Quarter per
Cents., 861 to :. Long Annuities, 8 9-18 to a.
Exchequer Bills. 7s. to 10s. pm. Bank Stock, 1864
to 84. Money was in demand on the Stock Exchange
to-day, and worth 44 per cent for short periods.
The transactions in the foreign market were chiefly
confined to Mexican and Peruvian bonds. Mexican
were somewhat lower, at 175 to 18, in consequence of
the absence of any indications in the news brought
by the Acadia of peace being near at hand with the
United States. As no transactions have taken place
for some time past in Peruvian securities, it may be
inNrred that some sort of negotiations are in progress
for placing the debt on a more satisfactory
footing. Should such be the case, which, how-
ever, can scarcely be imagined, it was the
duty of the Spanish-American committee to have
made instant and unreserved communication of the
same publicly for the information of the bondholders.
Public bodies should be specially wary of subjecting
themselves to the suspicion of acting from unworthy
motives. The Bonds, in which several bargains were
done, from 294 to 30, may be quoted 29 to 31. Spa-
n'sh Fives wore called 171 to 4 ; the Threes, 281 to
91; Portuguese, 22 to 3. Dutch Two-and-a-Half
per Cents., 55 to 5 ; the Fours, 84 to 5.
The principal feature in the transactions of foreign
exchange to-day was a great demand for bills on
Holland, arising probably from the necessity of pro-
viding kinds by bills not due here to meet the ac-
ceptances falling due of De Bruyn and Co., the house
which lately failed there. The sellers had, therefore,
the best of the market, as the rates declined in
consequence, and they obtained mere sterling for the
florin. The negotiations on Amsterdam were 12.6 to
44; on Rotterdam,l2.6 to 5 ; on Antwerp, the same
as before, at 26.5 to 15; on Hamburg, at 13.151 to 4
higher; on Frankfort, 1234 tot the same; on Paris,
higher at 25.95 to 26.24 ; on Vienna, a shade lower at
10.18 to 20 ; on Leghorn, lower at 31.30 to 35 ; on
Naples, lower at 393 to ;on Madrid, the same at 464
to 1, all at three months. On Lisbon, at 60 days, the
same at 514 to 1.
The high rates of discount which have prevailed
here, and are still ruling, though in a more
modified degree, have had the effect of carrying
some considerable amount of discount _ business

to other markets. This has been, and is now
the case with houses more directly in the habit of
receiving bills from foreign parts drawn upon London
or Paris, and remitted here in payments, or with
the proceeds to make purchases. Thus, bills from
St. Petersburg, accepted and payable in this city,
which here could not be melted at less than Si or 6
per cent. discount, have been sent to Amsterdam,
where they could be realised in cash at 4 per cent,
and with the proceeds bills at short, say 3 days'
sight, purchased on London at a favourable exchange,
thus making a beneficial economy upon the operation.
The private accounts by the Acadia steamer repre-
sent money to be exceedingly difficult in Boston,
where it was paid for in rates of discount ranging
from 12 to 18 per cent. The cause was in great part
attributed to the continuous heavy shipments of specie
to Europe, and England more especially. There, as
at New York and elsewhere, the distrust of bills on
England led the merchants' who bad to remit to meet
liabilities or make pnrchsses, preferentially to buy
and send specie instead of bills for better
security. From Philadelphia the money market
comes reported in a more easy and satisfactory
state. At New York there was great difficulty in
disposing of bills on England. Even the agent of the
Rothschilds there could place but a limited amount,
such was the continued distrust in which British
credit was held. This may be the more readily con-
i waved, and accounted for, by the fact that an impres-
don was actually abroad of the probability of the
Bank of England itself being under the necessity of
suspending payments, and that such might
be the tenor of the next advicss frorraZ
side of the water. This extraordinary appre-
hension would appear to have been grounded
on the strange letter referred to some time sines,
addressed to a correspondent at New York by a mer-
chant of this city, not unknown to or unconnected with
the Bank of England, in which the writer so Injudi-
ciously, or with a levity so unaccountable in a poses
of his position and gravity, referred to a co=
inure here far surpassing in magnitude all
had gone before, and which would " astound' the
viol, world.
- • previous state of discredit, so fomented into a wet
of English bill-phobia, led as the alternative to that
Igh rate of exchange, 1101, at which It became both
'mare genient and profitable to remit specie, which
eight la gat on board chip clear at 110, rather than
Vila limesrlaritteieoes by the Aced* al