The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-06 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

MANCHESTER, Sept. s.—The market for yarns
has been remarkably firm, without the least giving
way in prices. Some spinners are asking even
higher prices than on Tuesday. This is more
particularly the case for home trade yarns,
which are dearer by H. to 2d. per lb., and cheap
lots offering have been taken rather eagerly. For
cloth the market has been exceedingly flat. The
much quieter state of the Liverpool cotton-market
for a few days past has reacted upon this, and yes-
terday speculators were generally rather inclined
to sell at a slight decline of prices. There were
some exceptions to this feeling, so far as price was
concerned, but there was very little disposition to
purchase. This morning the feeling of distrust was
increased by a telegram from Liverpool, posted on
our Exchange, which said, " At a meeting of cotton
brokers, just held, a proposition to take stock was
negatived by 24 to 15." The report caused a little
uneasiness for so,ne hours among heavy holders of
cloth on speculation, and offers were made to sell at
Is. to 2s. per piece decline. The alarm, however,
was hardly general, and the market recovered this
afternoon. As a rule, buyers do not appear
anxious to sell this evening, and buyers are rather
cautious. The real transactions of to-day have
been on a very limited scale. What has been done
has mostly been for speculation, and we hear of
little or nothing doing in the shape of orders to
make. Manufacturers do not care to name prices
for goods in the loom, but prefer to wait till they
are ready for market, and take their chance of the
prices then ruling.

NEWPORT, 4th.—The coal trade of this district is
now beginning to show signs of increased anima-
tion, and the coal ports evince an activity which has
not been witnessed for some time. The favourable
operations of the French treaty have caused a large
increase of coal shipments to France and Italy ;
Spain, Portugal, and Austrian Italy are also im-
portant customers. There is no real advance in
prices as yet, but tha demand is steadier and in-
creasing, and present quotations are firmly adhered
to. House coal, free on board, is quoted at Bs. 6d.
to 9s. 6d. per ton, and steam coal, 7s. 6d. to Ss. 6d.
The general opinion prevails that with the steady
demand which has set in, and the advent of winter,
many weeks will not elapse before a substantial ad-
vance will take place. If these expectations should
be realised, and there is every reason to think that
they will, the coalmasters may look forward to the
future with a considerable degree of confidence. As
to the iron trade, the advance which has already
taken place has imparted quite a new life through-
out Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire. The works
are going better, and several of the ironmasters are
making preparations for more extended operations,
which proves that there is no lack of confidence as
regards the coming months. Rails are firm, at from
£5 10s. to £5 15s. at the works, and merchant bars
£5 ss. to £5 7s. 6d., which shows an advance of
from 8 to 12 per cent. within the last four months.
The importance of this advance is increased by the
fact that the coal trade benefits greatly by it, and if
another like improvement took place, which would
bring iron to from £6 to £6 10s., the district ge-
nerally would soon be in an active state. Present
indications tend to the conclusion that this result
may be confidently looked for, and the distress pre-
vailing in Lancashire would then be considerably
mitigated by the increased employment in the
mineral districts.
MARKETS---THIS DAY.