Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1884-01-27
WHEAT UNSETTLED YESTERDAY.
Provisions Trifie Lower, but Main
tanned by Small Receipts.
THE CATFLETRADE STILL STRONG,
A Good Deal Of Wavering on the New
York Stock Exchange.
CHICAGO.
Especial Telegram to the Globe ]

unexpected turn in the stock market in
New York had some effect The wheat
crowd is bewildered. It's market was weak
and strong By turns, and why il was one
thing or Why it was the other, was not
possible to divine. "There seems to be
good buying," said 0ne, "through brokers,
of course. and Judging from the men en-
ployed 1 should guess that the principals
were Hobbs and the Adamses. There
is, however, of course, no certainty
about it. 1 believe, however, that the
market Is good purchase for turn"
This vas one side. Here is the other:
''Wheat is taffy," said a prominent New
York operator. "There was scare of the
shorts and scramble to cover. The alarm
is over. The market is evened up. There
are no outside orders. The crowd is wait
ing for something to turn up. After lit
tie waiting with no new support, the sell
ers will begin again. When May wheat
gets back TO SIC the selling will be
general. Rufus Hatch," continued
the speaker, lis really enough identified
with the Northern Pacific TO get inside in
formation. He tells me that he has gathered
the figures relating to the amount of avail
able wheat. he says that while the farmers
have sold, the shippers and warehousemen
at all the shipping points are loaded up
with spring wheat, which is ready to come
here On any substantial advance"
The price of wheat to-day fairly Illus
trated the indecsion of the spectators.
Ii started at sec for May, dropped to $3.50
in spite Of higher cables, and then went up
again to 99Ic Notwithstanding
provisions and CORD were weak
and breaking. The market was erratic
and inexpIcable. New York was higher,
and that there had been % boat loads taken
for export was certain. There were be-
sides only 43 cars of wheat received.
Messrs. Poole, Kent & Co. were prominent
all day long as buyers, At the close Beam
& Jones we're very large sellers. They
broke the price of May at the close from
99$8 to 98%c. 1t looked all day as if
wheat was pegged at $500. This figure was
reached several times, but never passed.
The close for May was SO bid.
The receipts of grain are likely to in
crease next week, The railroads which
notified their shippers that they would not
guarantee them warehouse room here
have sent cut q second notice that there is
room for the present. The declaring Of
the irregular houses" regular, and the
removal of good deal of grain into YES
sells made room for upwards of 100000
bushels additional grain here.
Corn to-day was neglected. The pit
was phenomenally dull. II was consider
ed q little remarkable that this grain
should be go weak, especially as wheat was
comparatively strong, but it was ex-
planned because there was so little interest
IN it, Besides 303 cars with ia No.
were considered ample receipts. Lind
blom was seller and 80 was Broker
Morse.
Armour, Fowler, Baldwin and the Pack
ing company were sellers of provisions.
May pork closed at $16.O21s; May lard at
50 27. There were only $4,000 hogs at Il Q
yards, but the packers were not buyers,
and prices were lower.
Harwood, White g. Co. summarize the
provision market for thepas week as fol-
lows: The receipts of hogs for the week
were smaller than generally anticipated.
Prices were advanced 30@40c per 100
pounds, and this attracted considerable
attention from the speculative element.
The placing of the west is now about 400,-
600 hogs short of the returns to date last
year, equal to decrease of about 65,-
100000 pounds of product Of all kinds.
The decrease in the average weight Is
probably equal to further reduction of
100000 pounds, which would represent
decrease of 8O.O00,000 pounds
it is now very serious
question to the trade whether the
present shortage can be overcome, and
Judging from the expression of operators
and the course of the market it may be in
ferred that the impression prevails that the
final returns will show a decrease COM
pared with the returns of last season. 1t
would appear from the past that the trade
in general and manufacturers in particular
have been misIead regarding the supply of
hogs for the winter. Calculations we've
made last autumn that the hog crop
was large ons, fully equal to
the previous year, and some operators and
manufacturers were sanguine that even an
excess of 10 to Is per cent. would be ex-
hibited at the close of the winters pack
ing. the latter is entirely ont of the
question, and the former is now the deba-
table question Manufacturers impressed
with the ''large crop theory" were dispos-
cd to sell product early in the season for
future delivery particularly green meats
and at considerable discount
on the then ruling prices.
So confident were some of
them of lower prices for hogs and product
that they sold good share of what may be
termed compulsory articles-hams and
shouIders-and these contracts fell into
the hands of parties who wanted the prod
uct Tor their actual wants. The result has
been, therefore, that packers have to have
the hogs, and shippers and spectators be-
ing aware of the general situation, COM
peted with them for the offerings and