River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-08-20
STILL SOARING.
December Wheat Reaches SI.OS at Chi
eago. and S1.I5 at New York-Big Adj
vance in Rye-ENciting Days on Change.

December Wheat Reaches S1.OS at Chi
cago. and S1.I5 at New York-isig Adj
vance in Rye-ENciting Days on Change.
CHICAGO, Aug. 17.-The local dealers
in cereals completely lost all control
over the wheat, corn and rye markets
Saturday and l.any times they
as clearly lost control over themselves.
There has been seen no such wild. excited
scrambles-and that is saying much
since Hutchinson's famous wheat
corner in the fall of 1883 Outside
dealers were as much at sea as the
Chicago spectators. The story is only
barely indicated by the closing quota
tions, which show 65sc advance in
wheat, Sc in rye and 2slc in corn
The excitement which characterized
the trading in the wheat pit Friday
was quadrupled at the opening. De-
cember, which was being traded in at
995sc at 1915 Friday, was wanted by
hundreds of believing bulls and roar
ing bears at from s1.OI5s to Sl.034 the
moment the bell tapped
Business for about one minute was
done on an enormous scale at from
Sl.03 to Si.O24, and then for a matter
of five minutes the crowd made a I'M
animous rush TO sell and the price
tumbled to Sl.01%. Its stay at the lat
ter point was short; the same unani-
nifty which had for a few min
utes been in favor of the sell
ing side now changed and it rose
to S1.02, at which point sellers
entirely withdrew until the apparently
crazy buyers had advanced their bids
to Sl.05. Some sales at that time were
made as high as Sl.O5I4 before it once
more began to recede. The reaction
following the latter bulge stopped
when it got down to Sl.0334. The
market acted exceedingly firm, with an
upward trend reaching to Sl.041S ana
back again to 81. 04 few times, and then,
as on the preceding bulge. the entire
pit full of perspiring, haggard and ex-
cited brokers yelled their bids. and as
nothing but higher and still higher
prices could induce anyone to sell,
bids OF Sl.O5. Sl.06, S1.07 and finally
Sl.dS were Numbered simultaneously
from 500 husky threats as the price
shot up. Succeeding the fluctuations
already given there was decline to
IL would have been an exciting
day for spectators in grain if even
wheat had remained stationary Corn
was only of secondary interest because
as rule the crowd trading in it is
smaller than that in wheat. The fiuc-
ations were frequent and of suf-
cient severity 10 be called SEN
sational and, as in wheat the
trend of prices was strongly
upward. September, which at one pc
riod of the session sold as low as 595fc,
only reached its pinnacle when it
touched 651Se; and it stood at G21lc at
the close of the session, or 294c
above the point it stopped at Fri
day. The advance was due for the
most part to the excitement in the
wheat market. and that was taken adj
vantage of by those who are working
the bull side of the deal. Oats hardly
kept pace with other cereals, the net
gain amounting to only &@Hc. Rye
jumped Sc, closing firm at S1.04 for
September This was the top price
for the day, 99c being the opening and
low. Trading was active and there
the extremes.
Conservative traders pronounce the
character of Fridays and Saturdays
market stampede The shorts got
badly scared after IL experience of Ed
Partridge, who is aid to have
dropped nearly sl,OOO,,NO on the
bear side. At the same time
there were unusually heavy buy
ing orders from foreign coun-
tries, and every short trader rushed to
cover at sacrifices ranging all the way
from 10 cents to 20 cents bushel. The
sacrifice had TO be made, and it was
cause there was not even a rumor of
the collapse of any firm.
Experienced brokers claim that they
see nothing extraordinary in the rush,
and they maintain also that it cannot
last very long. At present the farm
ers deliver little or nothing. The spring
wheat is not yet harvested, and the
supply of winter wheat is exceedingly
small.
New YORK. Aug. 17.-On sales of
IL. 100000 bushels in option, wheat
prices in the short Saturday market of
only one hour and half rushed up
over five points at the produce ex-
change. The bulls were in full con-
troll Cables reported the foreign mar
ket booming on news of the
American rise. At noon, when the
market closed, wheat for September
delivery was selling at 81. 1875, after
"a day of extraordinary nervousness.
There was virtually no rye to be
bought at any price. The wheat mar
ket opened with shorts panic-stricken.
They rushed and climbed, getting in
out of the wet at 211@3c advance from
the close of Friday night. 1t was a
short panic started by disappointing
cables
The advance in the price of rye
abroad had some effect. and ii is
now over the price of wheat. There is
a corner here, not artificial but natural,
and rye has risen 30 cents a bushel in
ten days.
In the local markets September
wheat opened with simultaneous sales
ranging from Sl.0911 to 81. 10, as against
S1.O7E at Fridays close. all of the
other options being similarly strong.
December started at Sill! to 81. II,
against Sl.O91s. Trading was enor-
nous. and within an hour December
touched 81. Is, closing at 81. 141s, while
September closed at 81. 13l4.