Omaha daily bee., 1888-08-19
THE SPECULATIVE MARKETS.
Traders Begin to Doubt the Reports
About Frost Damage.
LIGHTER BUSINESS IN WHEAT.
Corn Exceedingly DuIl-Oats Also
Very Quiet-Provisions still I'm
proving-Cattie in Fair De-
itarfd-Hugs Strong.
CHICAGO PRODUCE MARKET.

CHICAGO. August 1S.-[Special Telegram to
The BEE. Some of the steam was let off
to-day and the wheat market ruled easier.
The opening range was 4W1Sc below yestGr-
days, closing range September starting of
at sac and December at SIC. September
worked down to $3.50 and December to S64c.
This represented a shrinkage of lie compared
with yesterdays last prices. The little longs
unloaded on a slow market and bearish room
traders helped prices down. Hutchinson
was by large odds, the heaviest individual
buyer to-day as he was yesterday. He has
become an avowed bull on the market but is
not recorded as predicting an extravaganza
advance The market recovered its tone
and, during the last half of the
session, better prices were obtain
able for wheat. Before the close
the range of quotations was nearly back to
yesterdays figures and the market was
quoted STEADY with a good undertone."
There was a rich assortment Of news to
select from this forenoon. Most cables
quoted fine weather abroad and some of them
had easier markets and buyers holding off.
One represented the recent estimate of crop
damage as absurd, a few, however, men
toned lower prices and most of them quoted
viz lOiSIb iial hSbo 10 olSAiN - "O~h
higher figures bid and asked. New York
was bullish in the main and that market
ruled relatively firmer than Chicago all day,
though it was observed that New York fur
nished the bears their heaviest club, in the
absence of clearances in blackboard returns.
Even the bulls are getting anxious on the
score of export business and their
courage would be greatly fortified
49,, .l;Nn,Nf f,n,, cha nAnIAnrl
The oft-repeated statement is made that
wheat is going out and that shipments dur
ing the last week in August and all through
the month of September will be immense,
but that does not fill the bill as actual move
ment. That is to say, it does not satisfy
speculative trade as well. Reports from tho
northwest are mixed. The Tribune's head.
lines this morning had something to do with
the weak opening, and a good many people
on the floor had dispatches to the effect that
the reports of damage by frost had been
exaggerated. Later advices from the most
reliable men in the elevator and grain trade
in Minneapolis and Duluth, and other i'm
portant points in the spring wheat country,
were in a different key. Conservative men
are not disposed to make light of the frost or
to underestimate the damage, though they
are naturally reluctant to send out bulletins
of a sensational character. They know the
damage has been done; they are trying
now to find its extent. Not a
few of them show plainly in the
tone of their advices that they are discour.
aged at the prospects. 1t is, nevertheless,
true that the gravity of the situation is not
generally understood for the reason, doubt
less, that the great run of traders are
general principles, and it takes a mass of evil
dence to convince them. The free move
ment of wheat from primary markets keeps
up, and the failure to find an outlet for gram
at the seaboard is resulting in the accumula-
ton of the property at eastern points. This
pressure may be relieved in the near future.
September opened at SIC, ranged at 1890
S4ssc and closed at S44c. December opened
at SIC, ranged at S64@S1c, and closed at
S6%c. The volume of trading was not large.
Tn corn market was very dull. The
little bulls and little bears are doing
next to nothing, and the big
longs and big shorts are resting
on their oars, neither side caring
willing to abandon the position taken. The
market to-day was nervous though slow and
and in a condition to advance sharply had
any attempt been made to buy largely or to
ave declined quickly on signs of a DISPOSE
ton to sell. 1t was not a good market to
either buy or sell on. Fluctuations were
within &c limits, prices never going over
yesterdays last range, but closings show
only a small shrinkage as compared with
yesterday. September ranged at 44s5@44Sc
| duu oSVouCi ~ ff2b ~ffI2S'
Oats shared in the general quletude to-day,
and price changes were few and unlmportant
in all futures. Cash and seller the month
were easier, while futures beyond September
were in fair request and firm, with May rul-
ing &c higher. Cash buyers demanded
small commissions on No. 2 in store, which
sold &c lower at 254c, with seller August
about steady. There was an absence of any
special speculative interest, and the market
was at times very dull.
In provisions there was another recovery
from the Yellow Jack uneasiness. Advices
from the infected portion of Florida were
again encouraging, and in its movement the
trade was controlled more by ordinary infiu-
ences than for over a week. Light receipts
of hogs, an advance of 5@10c in the same
and a better disposition upon the part of cash
buyers of product to take hold, strengthened
the long side of the market. The opening
was a little timid, at least in pork, but as the
day advanced a strong feeling was mani
tested all around. Higher prices were the
rule, and as compared with yesterdays final
quotations, pork at l o'clock rested at an i'm
provement of 1711c, lard of gao, and shor
ribs Of 1oLc