The New York herald., 1879-12-11
FINANCIAL and COMMERCIAL.
Indications of a Coming
"Boom" in Stocks.
STEADY BUYING FOR A RISE.
The Market Opens Strong and Active
but Closes Unsettled.
WALL STREET,
WEDNESDAY, Dec. lO-6 P. M.

.
The general characteristics of to-days marker are
unchanged. Appearances that the speculative
rsgtag aud bobtail is having much more to do with
the ups and downs OF prices than the great moguls
II the latter interesting themselves ct all they
are doing 1t quietly. There Is good reason to De-
leve that they are SO doing it. There IL not par
tcie Of "give way to prices. but. on the contrary
. very considerable tendency to higher ngures'
That something stronger than the ordinary trading
element is controlling matters is evident; that IL
may be traced to the quiet buying OF the moro
important spectators seems to be as unas-
sailable as Gospel truths. It is useless to say
that at least o moiety OF the stocks upon
the list are quoted at more than they are worth
or that the recent Is likely to be repeated with
Stil more disastrous results Tho speculative mind
is made up in the direction of future "boom, and
there every to believe that the speculative
mind will turn out to be right. Every stockjobber
is dead set in favor of rise. and his opinion is uni
versally accepted to be the correct 1t is case
where the pops is reflex Of the por Del; though
1t must be confessed that the gods of the market
have as yet made no trumpet tongued declaration
of their intentions. They have done SO. however.
in sotto sort of way. by being persistent buyers
whenever lul in prices permitted of it. This un-
derlying strength has kept prices well up, and in
many cases has advanced them. To-days market.
an evidence Of this. There was no falling on
In values compared with yesterday. but on
the contrary general improvement For most OF
the day the market remained persistently strong,
and 1t only during the last hour or 80 that any
weakness was detected. At the very end there was
greater inclination to sell than to buy and prices
were fractionally fined down accordingly. There
was dearth of any news likely to affect prices to-
day. and the market worked Independently Of out
side influences. The Western Union directory met
to-day and declared quarterly dividend of ~ per
cent plus an extra one Of per cent. which may be
taken tho presentation of q Christmas box to
stockholders After this division there will still re-
main cash surplus of nearly $l,2OO,Ooo. In spite
Of this good showing the price fell off and closing
Bales were made at fully per cent below the best
pnes of the day. The "extra" dividend on
Atlantic and Pacific is of per cent. and not per
cent. as given in this column this morning. Erie
ruled strong with the best Of buyers on both sides
of the account. c.. c. and l. C. advanced from 2O>1
to % and the bonds from s5K to s71a. meeting of
the bondholders with view to close up any exist
ing litigation between the c., G. and l. G. and
Pennsylvania roads, is called for Saturday. The
general impression is that the terms Of compromise
agreed upon will be made known and submitted TO
the ratification Of stockholders. It is currently re-
ported that the Pennsylvania people have been
large buyers of the Co. c. and l. c. stock and as they
are not the sort of persons to buy ''pig in poke
their action is taken as promising considerably
higher prices for both stock and bonds. There is
nothing interest to report from the Philadephia
market. Messrs. Cadwalader Evans l. Co. report
the closing prices of Pennsylvania Railroad at 50H
SOX and of Reading at 3516 35sS.
Total sales at the Board were 2S1. $50 shares.
against 2S4. .S34 yesterday and 1867 Monday.
Following is q synopsis OF to-day's transactions:-