Evening star., 1894-02-17
FINANCE AND TRADE.
Speculation Dwindles Into Small
Proportions
BEAR BROKERS BUYING ON CONCESSIONS
Contradictory Advices Received
From Washington.
GENERAL MARKET REPORTS.

special Dispatch to The Evening Star
NEW YORK. Feb. l7.-Speculs tion th,s
morning dwindlcd into a professional inter-
changing OF securities at fractional pronts
Ihere was no real business In sieht ana the
mooest attempt to mark up prices at the
opening uncovered such a stock of selling
oiuers as TO make continued Improvement
impossible IL was notable. however, that
brokers Tor prominent bear operators were
oosihg IN stocks at every concession ana
considerable short stock was covered during
the two hours of business
mere was nc important news to influence
the course OF prices. and fluctuations were
the result OF a combination OF roon traders
loho"ine out a preconcerted plan to scalp
the market The narrowness of speculation
IS sun as pronounced as II was at the be-
ginning OF the week. and will proba big
Snow no signs of Improvement while the
.aF,n Oil Is an unknown quantity. both -
70 nts text and its practical operation
u, Washington advices are contradictory on
't,,.n .e sssehtiai points Of this measure and
serve alternately the purposes Of both bulis
ana pears sugar interests are all AT sea :
10 what the nnal provisions spplicab bic TO
that commodity will be. but the weight uf
@ AZ suiiient @ at Tie moment seems to be ad-
verse 70 the interests Of the trust
Dfstillers, too. is sensitive 10 lerts,a fix.
Influences and follows closely the action ~
sugar; as both concerns are likely to be
,,x ef tS eSualy 50 lar as tempering the rtstd
ity OF the House bill Is concerned
The situation IN the west is not encouras-
ing, ana traders generally are bear on
railroads running through that section.
so curtailed the purchasing power Of The
west that railroad earnings must sooner or
later reflect the falling of I'm traffic due 20
this cause. The liquidation OF railway
g Ha -aO hat IA
a protection to grain operations has no,
materialized. but conditions have not vel
improved to the extent OF making such Al
event unlikely.
Chicago Gas is again threatened with a
scheme to establish q rival company but
these new schemes eavor 20 strongly OF
political and stock jobbing that there A
little likelihood OF their being succe>srui.
Among the most important changes IN
price may be mentioned q decline OF Is
per cen; ia Distillers to % rs Sugar lo.t
! 81 per cent to ~ Ia and Chicago oas
lost l-2 per cent to g Ia. ~. Pau lost
IL point on reporte1 decrease IN earnings
for the second week this month OF sIl 10.
and Burlington lost 3-4 per cent to IS IA
on renewed selling.
The bank statement shows that deposits
have not been decreased materially on ac-
count of heavy bond payments, "a the loss
OF sl20n.oW in lawful money has been
partly offset by an increase OF over eix mil
lions in loans. The surplus is now grad
and the supply of currency becoming isss
burdensome.
The statement In detail IN a. folIovs
Reserve decreased sll.o96.sT5: loans in-
creased. ST. I43 800: specie decreased. 1922
100; legals decreased, s. $50. 200; depooits
decreased, s4.1s4.loo, and circulation de-
creased s44T,300.
The market for sterling and continental
bills continues firm xith no increase in
demand ana continued scarcity OF all clas,es
of commercial paper.
Wheat Dull. but Fira.
CHICAGO. Feb. 11-wheat was duh TO-
day, but firm on better cables and smaller
receipts. Trading was light. which pre-
vented a marked advance. May WHEAT
opened unchanged at IS "a. and after de-
clining is, advanced to 50 10 A little buy
ing sent the price down LIZ ana May heid
steady near SO.