Omaha daily bee., 1888-12-04
THE SPECULATIVE MARKETS.
Wheat Very Heavy at all Points
With Low Prices.
REMARKABLE CHANGE OF SPIRIT.
smallest Export In Years-Corn Rules
Dull - Provisions Nervous With
a Bearish Inclination-Live
Stock Fairly Active.
CHICAGO PRODUCE MARKET.

CHICAGO PRODUCE MARKET.
CHICAGO, Dec. Especial Telegram to
TnE BEE. The wheat market was heavy
to-day with lower prices ruling everywhere on
this side of the Atlantic, and news from the
other side very discouraging. The receipts
Mt Minneapolis and the course of the market
there and at Duluth do not fulfill expecta-
tons and estimates of reduced movement. a
dispatch from Minneapolis certified that the
movement continues to be above antlcipa-
tons, and thai more wheat is coming for
ward than the bulls were prepared to receive.
Prices at Duluth and Minneapolis are mater
tally lower. New York, too, opened away
off from Saturday, and the market sytnpa-
thizcd with the weakness here. 1t was PLAIN
early in the day that the visible supply would
show a large crease, put the figures, when
they came-S51O NO bushels-wcre larger than
expected. This had a depressing effect, and
emphasized the prevailing lndiSposition
TO invest. The initial range was
sL02l9c for December; $l.034 for January;
and SIC for May. The market worked
down to sl.Ola. for December, $l.O3 for Jan
uary and sl.0sis for May.
The pressure was steady but not partic-
larly heavy, so far as could be seen. There
was very little raiding and considerable
ueau weight. oulSlue anu local influences
were bearlsh and searchers for bull points
and news had lean pickings.
The market rallied s%pasmodic lilly several
times during the session and two or three
times May touched 81. OS31, but the tempta-
ton to sell on hard spots'' was more than
traders could resist. Wheat came out every
time buyers got numerous or ambitious.
The price fuctuatcd between sl.0sl4 and
$l.0S&a most of the session with Sl.0Sl2 the
battle line. The price was not for long at
a time more than sc away from it up to l
O'Clock. December ranged Sl.0las@lt26
and January Sl.03ml OBJ. The last fifteen
or twenty minutes Of the session de-
veloped no sensational features. The
market continues TO drag down. Clos
ing quotations were at inside figures for De-
cember and January and within sc of the
bottom for May, viz. Sl.01fs for December,
$l.03 for January and Sl.OSi4 for May. AS
compared with Saturday last, prices show a
decline of 1lsm13sc, December suffering
most and resting at a discount of 694c under
May. Those who have been daily spectators
can hardly realize the change in the spirit of
the market during the last thirty or forty
days. That long ago, it was: buy any
month at any price and get rich" The boom
was on foreign and home shorts had just
covered ID,UUU,DbU 10 JU,tUN,uNb DuSUtIS OF
wheat, regardless of price and the specula-
tive atmosphere was electric with
the bullish spirit. Since then the
market has gradually narrowed. Many
took their profits and went out until
such time as they could feel safe in rcinvest-
ing. Stalwarts have kept right on in undi-
unfinished faith in absolute correctness of
their position. To them the shriukage of loo
in futures and 2Oc in cash wheat is
n mere incident. The great mass of traders
are affected differently, however. Bears
have recovered some of their courage and
money, while such of the bulls as are not for
titled by the faith kindled to that which
nervcd the martyrs, have fallen into the old
habit of swapping up small profits in a spirit
of thankfulness. Where a month ago they
would not look at less than 5@l0c profits on
trade they now take lc or even a fraction
thereof. And all the time the markets have
been selling slowly down toward
lower levels, and at the decline
there has been no revival of
the export business. On the contrary, the
exports this week are the smallest of any
week for years, amounting to less than
BOO, 600 bushels in wheat and flour combined,
from the Atlantic ports. Bradstreets makes
the total exports for both coasts 105, 600 bush
els. 1t would seem that the markets have
had break enough to attract new speculative
business, but the public as a rule does not
come en- masse until the market turns up
and n good start is made. 1t Is possible for
bull leaders to start such an advance any
day, but with prices here as high as they are
at the seaboard, the public might still keep
out. That may be what deters them from
attempting anything of the sort, for the pres
ent at least, or until increased activity in the
-four trade brings to the notice of the
trade the welcome intelligence that
the stocks of flour are again
down to normal proportions, and all danger
of fatal congestion is aycrted. The sudden
let up in the northwestern movement might
also prove acure for bull timidlty,
Receipts Of corn were about IS cars under
SATURDAYS estimates. put that gave no SIM
port to a market inclined to be weak, and
freely assisted in its downward course by
the selling of some heavy operators. Export
demand continues good, and the quantity
moving out from the Atlantic seaboard keeps
up TO respectable figures, while "A smaller
proportion of daily receipts are grading up to
the speculative standard.
The weather keeps mild and although not
wet, is not favorable to an early
ton of No. 2. The visible supply statement,
showing an increase OF 81 600 bushels, was of
no significance in its influence upon prices.
Trading was dull and spiritless, and with a
prevailing weakness in wheat, there was
nothing 10 stimulate the tagging demand for
corn.
In provisions the movement was nervous
and more or less irregular. The monthly
stock exhibit showed a little more pork on
hand than was expected, and under its in
fluencc the market opened with a bearlsh
inclination. The decline suffered, however,
was limited and only temporary. The old
bear element was more disposed to support
trade than TO resume last weeks pounding
on anything like an extensive scale, and, on
the practical withdrawal OF their pressure,
pork advanced from its lowest point, 32l6c;
lard, l2llMl5c; short ribs, lOQIl212c. Subse-
quently IA weaker feeling was again de-
yeloped prices ruled easier and unsettled,
and the gain made was very generally lost.
Based on Saturdays last quotations the
croslrgs for pork stood unchanged to SC
lower, and fer lard and short ribs unchanged
to 2Isc OFF.