Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-02-26
aGNO sTIC MARKET.
The Tay the Chaps an Chicago are Whoch-
ing at to the april Corner Croard.
[Chicago Times 24th.1

The Way the Chaps in Chicago are IFhoch-
ing it to the Aprii Corner CrOacd.
[Chicago Times 24th.l
''We are having an agn0stic market"
SAID grain broker yesterday; "nobody
believes in anything" The definition
approximates accuracy. The crowd is
standing off watching the clique that is
under April wheat and wondering what
II is going to do next. There is COM
paratively little trading in April options
and nothing doing worth mentioning in
the longer futures. The "boys" are TAX
ing it for granted that the combination
wants 10 get rid Of its April wheat, but
if such is its desire it has made
no sign that way 1t kept the prices up
yesterday by buying whenever any spe.
cial weakness was exhibited, but the
':boys,'' hammered away at May and June,
breaking the market considerably. Sell
er April opened on the regular board at
S129, cent above the closing price
Tuesday, and advanced at least cent.
Then the market turned and went back
to SIPS. 1t was held there through the
entire day, and on call, with inconsidera-
BILE fluctuations, and closed at about that
figure. May at one time crawled up to
within y cent of April, selling at S1.2S11s,
but very soon thereafter it took a tumble
and fell off to $l.261a, and closed &c
higher up stairs, closingen call at S1.25I
@l.255a, and very sick. June behaved
very much like May, and closed at
s1221a@1.22 The most peculiar fea-
ture OF the market was the great tumble
that occurred in April wheat after call.
The price of April declined, for some in
applicable reason, on the curb to S1.261a,
May following more slowly and striking
bottom at s125 Both rallied about a
before evening, however. The market
seemed to fall to pieces without
any sales being made to cause
such a break 1t was very
queer move and struck the traders with
astenishment. They did not know what
to make of it, and were undecided wheth-
er 1t was ''bunko" trick of the clique to
bring in selling orders in the morning or
q token of the surrender of the pool.
Consequently, they were slow to give
their customers advice, preferring in most
instances to telegraph the facts and let
their patrons judge for themselves, or
else repeat the warnings they have been
sending out for the past week to "keep
out of April wheat" The ''ooys'' are
adopting precisely the tactics that
" knocked the stuffing" out of
the Keene deal two years
ago, and are doing their trading
among themselves. Bulls and bears find
consolation in the 81 tuation. The bears
think that the clique has discovered it
has bitten off more than it can chew and
will abandon the deal and get out with as
small loss as possible. The bulls profess
to believe, on the other hand, that the
clique has gone i'll so far it cannot let 60,
and will be forced to sustain the market
at every hazard. 1t is thought by many
that the pool will save itself by selling
May wheat against its April, thus secur-
ing certain profit of several
cents a bushel. This would ne
cessitate the handling Of the actual
property in filling the May contracts, and
would run the deal through longer Pc
Rod than was at first designed. In the
meantime the crowd will hammer the
life out of May and June options, and
after it has created an unnatural differ
ence of ten or fifteen cents between April
and the two succeeding months, it is only
reasonable to suppose the tactics adopted
to break the Hobbs corn corner last fall
will be again employed, and the board of
tdirectors be asked to establish
marginal value for April wheat at
abouR the actual cash value of the
property, Such move would not neces-
sarily put an end the to the corner, but
the effect would be TO weaken general
confidence in the deal. 1t would only
be necessary for the members of the
crowd to 90 down in their pockets and
put up So ,000, 900 or 100000 in hard
cash, in addition to what is already in, to
carry the deal through two or three
months to insure the success of the move,
but the crowd is imbued with the notion
that the Clique has neither the money nor
the sand to carry out any such programme
and would lose considerable money back
ing its judgment in that particular.
| sa''I have been trying to decipher the
handwriting on the WALL" observed a
| broker last evening, ''and l interpret it to
mean that the crowd is going to down
| the Clique sure as safe. Walkers fellows
have been squirming about for several
days looking for somebody to help them
let go of the bears tail. They feel it is
death to hang on and death to let go.
| The way May wheat sold to-day April
is worth about 81 Is instead of S127, and
the difference will be greater before the
game is played through. l am afraid,
| though, that the pressure will be kept
up long enough to squeeze those very
clever gentlemen who have been in the
habit of selling one month and buying
the next month, and making cent or
two month in the deal. This time the
market is and cents against the 'strad-
dlers' who are feeling uneasy as the day of
settlement approaches y