St. Paul daily globe., 1885-03-17
GOSSIP ABOUT THE PITS.
The Multiplicity of Bear Circulars
Sent out On Saturday Weakens
the Market.
All the Cereals Weaker With Trading
Less Active and Prices Rang
ing Lower.
Provisions Show Few Features, Ruling Heavy
and Prices Tend Downward Under
Heavy Receipts.
The Stock Market Acting Bearish. Closing
Nervous and Unsteady-Other
Market Matters.
Chicago.
Special to the Globe i.

Chicago.
Special to the Globe.
CHICAGO. March 16.-There was hardly
commission concern on the street that did
not give away 0earish advices Saturday
night There were degrees of bearishness
in these messages, but there was not any
where on La Sale street man who was In
business of giving advice, who wrote any
thing save sell. The only time that advice
of circular writers becomes significant is
when it is as it was on Saturday night, all IN
one strain When clients everywhere are
urged to sell, or when clients east, west,
north and south are told to buy, the advice
is worth having. The time is yet to come
when commission firms chOrused the lnJunc-
ton to sell that the market did not sooner or
later advance, or when speculative cllenls
were everywhere advised to buy, that the
market did not
PRETTY SOON SAG OFF.
Last week wheat began leisurely advanc-
ing from reasonable motives. There were
received reliable reports Of damage to crop
in various quarters, and Of great decrease
in acreage in certain of the winter wheat
states, especially in Kansas; but, although the
market began in a nominal conditlon,
along came war reports causing
furry and a rapid advance altogether
abnormal. The positions of traders
were all at once altered. The old bulls be-
gan to think that an advance from S01E to
SIC for Nav was too fast, and old bears who
had thought wheat was utterly worthless, eX-
ccpt to sell suddenly, became vigorous buy
ers. The traders who buy and sell in an old
fashioned way on a basis of few simple but
phi!osophic principles, were Mortified to find
prices becoming so erratic and hastened to
yet out Of that kind of excitement. There
was such a shaking up, upsetting and turn
iug about Of wheat traders over the threat
cned Anglo-Russian imbroglio, that it is not
strange that even on Sunday
night the bulls were quietly but
determinedly at work trying to
determine whether they would buy in the
morning and the bears were trying to decide
during the quiet of the Sabbath whether they
had better buy or better not buy wheat on
Monday morning. 1t looks now as if the
wheat market would at any rate be tenn
porarily
BORNE DOWN BY THE WEIGHT
of selling certain to be brought out by bear
ish messages sent out Saturday night, but if
the market should continue on the down
grade pretty nearly every little trader would be
making money and that never lasts long 1t
makes no matter what the situation is or the
influences are, the crowd never
makes much money, nor makes
money long, so that the very best
advice TO little fellows who are sellers
ir,cr
clever fellows to make the turn a short one
and not to play the 'hog''
There is very little that is interesting in
the wheat pit here at Chicago. There is only
one operator who just now is in the market
on a great scale, and this is Mr.. John
Cudahy He Is ''short' n few millions of
wheat. The Englishmen who were ''short,"
and who were playing the market for great
decline, were the first to get out when
speck of war appeared. At the opening
OF tho morning session 'change
to-day there was a feeling among
a great portion Of the crowd that
the price Of May wheat would
advance from the opening figures Of SO55c.
This feeling was engendered by the receipt
of bad crop news and the cold wave which
came down from the Arctic regions, but like
many other things that men prophesy it did
not pan out. The price of the option did
run up to S015c, but 1t was due TO the fact
that shorts were covering to considerable
extent But after they had done so the
market showed signs OF decided weakness.
Letters from Missouri and Kansas continued
to be received saying that there will be
BUT HALF a CROP OF WHEAT
in those states. 'Still," said the head of a
large commission house, who is a very close
observer at is well to remember that there
is always more or less croaking just before
winter wheat shows above ground" 1t was
this same trader who predicted Saturday that
We would have cold weather this week. "You
see, was right he said to-day, land we
are very likely, | think, 10 have several more
spells like this. You see there is an i'm
meuse amounFof congealcG air surrounding
the Hudson bay region and 1t will continue
10 sweep down this way at irregular inter
walls until its force is spent So. in my opin-
ion, we may look for an unsettled condition of
affairs.
AZ one time during the session there was a
rumor that there had been two large failures
in New York. This made the price drop y c.
kilograms were sent out and answers came
back that the failures were small affairs on
the stock exchange. The price would not
hold up, however, and 1t closed weak at
794c. March closed ssc lower at 74c, April
Mt 742sc aud June %c.
CORN RULED QUIET,
and steadiuess was the prevailing feature
until just before the adjournment Of the ses-
sion, when weakness set in and prices
closed A@%c under those current
IS hours ago. The sales for No. . for May
opened at 1880, and transactions dur
ing the day were at 4l7S@42Lc, closing
at 4ac. Other corn futures were in light de-
maud, closing 37$c March, SSc April and
4l&c June.
OATS WERE FLAT
and dull as possible, with no dispo-
sition whatever to trade. Fluctuations
in May were only SC, closing Sl4c.
March oats opened at 2Sc and closed at 2Sc,
April closed at 2Sc.
PROVISIONS OPENED DULL AND STEADY,
but about noon there was bear raid on mess
pork and prices finally closed at inside hg-
ures OF the day aud show decliuelof 2G25c
Opening sales for May were at Sl9 T5, and
the whole range was at $l2.41s@l2. 80, clos
ing at $i2.47lS.
Lard was quiet and declined 5,G1 &c. with
sales Tor May at S6.9565.05. closing at So 95.
The FIRST sales were at ST02i{ Short ribs
were In fair demand, but 5165lsc lower.
Sales for Nav were at 81. 49i$ at the o1eninr,
and during the session az 81. sat. 42ts
closing AZ S6S2lS. The exports from sea-
hoard ports last week included 100 bbls Of
pork. !. go, 600 Ibs Of lard and 4,51O. 600 fbs
OF bacon.
1T WAS NOISY CROWD
that filed the provision pit Jack Cud-
ahy was said 10 be the principal