The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-12-05
IN THE MARTS OF TRADE
NO HOPE FOR 4 GENERAL BUSINESS
 REpITAL THIS TEAR.


 The Future, However, is Painted in Rose-
 ate Colors-Export of Wheat Increasing
 Bank Clearings Show Heavy Gain
 Over Last Week-358 Failures for Past
 Six Days.
 New York, Dec 4.-Bradstreets to- morrow will say:
 General trade continues in moderate volume, jobbers and wholesalers being agreed that there will be no business revival this year There is some ac- tivity in holiday goods. Rains and sormy weather south and cold and se- were weather west and northwest have checked traffic on interior country roads and otherwise interfered with the distribution of merchandise, except at some northwestern centers, where
 more reasonable weather has stimu- lated the demand for heavy textiles, clothing, hats and shoes. Throughout the central Mississippi valley there has been no increase in demand in whole
 sale lines, and at the south trade is characterized as dull.
 Jobbers of dry goods report that sales for future delivery have fallen off. Shoe manufacturers report that the de- mand has declined compared with pre- ceding weeks, and eastern Woolen mills
 report that orders for spring delivery are of moderate volume. Transactions in wool have fallen off, manufacturers buying only as they receive orders. The situa tion in iron and steel is less satisfactory, with unsettling rumors as to the success of the steel pool, com paratively few sales of staple grades and no likelihood of revival in demand prior to February.
 Sales of open hearth steel have been
 made at parity with grades which have been considered cheaper. Nails have again reacted on the dissolutoin of the pool; tin-plate prices have been
 cut, and Bessemer pig iron tas sold down 15 cents ton. The weakness in hides continues and prices are lower, though thus far without effect on quo | tations for leather. Petroleum prices 1 have reacted and quotations are lower for coffee, lard, oats and corn. No material change is reported in prices l for pork, print cloths and lumber, while | those for turpentine, tobacco, cotton sugar wheat and flour are all higher. | Exports of wheat from both coasts | of the United States this year (four | included) amount to 3,653,1 160 bushels, as compared with 3,156000 bushels in | the first week In December, 1895 Ex- l ports of Indian corn from both coasts | of the United States this week were l 1. .76S, ,0O0 bushels, as compared with l. | SGT, 900 bushels in the same week a year | ago.
 Bank clearings show a heavy gain | over last week, 34 per cent, partly oW- | ing to the holiday last week and partly to the usual December disbursements. l Total clearings for the week at seven- | ty-seven cities in the United States, | S25S, ,S45, 900, one-half of per cent. larger | than year ago, per cent. larger than | the first week of December, 1894, 12.6 l per cent larger than 1893, but 19 per cent. smaller than in 1892. Outside of l New York there is a loss of nearly 4 per cent as compared with year ago,
 and only about one-third of all the 1 cities show increases over the like | totals a year ago. Average daily bank l clearings this week at all cities have
 been about $2O9, ,OOO, 900, against $1S7, ,O00,-
 900 last week, but outside of New York
 average daily clearings have been only about $S9, 900, OOO, against $7S000,000 last | week
 November bank clearings reflect the | speculative activity following election. l Compared with months preceding the
 showing is a good one. Once before in i three years has the November total ex- | ceeded that for October, and with the | exception of January, the November l total is the heaviest for any month this year. But in spite of this, the total | November clearings were smaller than
 a year ago. and, with New York ex- cluded, quite heavy falling off is re- | ported. The total clearings at sixty six cities for November aggregate s4,- | 564 307, ,S04. a decrease from a year ago
 of 2S per cent, an increase over two
 years of 10 per cent, and over Noyem- Der, 1893. Of F per cent.