The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-02-01
THE BUSINESS OUTLOOK.

! Uror1 Bradstreet's state of Trade."3
The features of the week are continued re-
tarded demand for merchandise and check
ed industrial operations Least satisfactory
Is the waiting attitude of some Of the more
important Industries. Shoe factories at Phila-
delphia are shutting down or running on part
time; cotton goods makers regard the outlook
for their product there is d re
action in the price of steel billets: among
fifty pig Iron furnaces in the Pittsburgh and
Shenango districts fourteen are IDLE. and the
! position OF woollen goods manufacturers is
shown by the fact that foreign woollen goods
are relatively most active.
An indication of the continued shrirkage in
the voiuIne of business in December and its
extension into January is shown by the pro-
longed decline in totals of weekly bank clear
ings, that for this week-sS91. 900. 100-being the
smallest since the last week in November, 8
per cent. less than last week. 5.5 per cent.
smaller than one year ago. although 16 per
cent. larger than in tho last week OF Janu-
airy, 1894. When comparisons are made with
corresponding aggregates in 1898 and 1892 {when
the falling off is respectively IS and 80 per
cent. AS compared with the clearings in the
like week of 1891. this weeks total is 10 per
cent. smaller. sl
Relatively most favorable features of trade
are found in the continued strength of prices
Of leading staples, the conservative attitude
of wholesale dealers, and. aside from the inn
proyement in the outlook at Pittsburgh and
Baltimore, the actual gain in demand for.
staples at Charleston. Atlanta, Augusta. Chat,
tanooga, Nashville and Memphis. Prices for
leather, lumber and wool remain unchanged,
the last being sustained by the strength of
the London market. Anthracite coal closes at
last weeks prices. but with a prospect for
higher quotations. Wheatfour, pork, lard and
petroleum show no change. Advances are
practically for wheat, corn and oats, while
reactions in quotations., aside from those in
cotton goods, are confined to southern pig iron.
steel billets, sugar and cotton. i
The extraordinarily heavy movement Of
wheat and Indian corn from southern ports
and the newly developed South African de-
nand for flour on the Pacific coast remain fea-
lures at Newport News, Galveston, New Or
Jeans, Tacoma and Seattle. Starting up of
shingle mills and building of new ones tends
to revive the demand for staple merchandise
in Washington, and Oregon farmers are hold
ing wheat for higher prices, which the de-
mand warrants the mills paying. The Su-
perior iron ore allotment for 1896 appears
assured, with 3. 500, 900 tons as the share fog
Mesaba ores. against 1900, 900 tons of that va
riety produced last year.
NThe prospective success Of the government
bond issue, the absence of disturbance in the
loan market. and the decline of exchange be-
low the gold shipping point, combined to
create a bullish speculation In the New York
stock market. The new government 4 per
cent loan will, it is thought, be oversubscribed,
and intending bidders generally seem to have
completed their arrangements. The dispo-
count the resulting Improvement, and man
i~pulative cliques have advanced various
stocks. finding buying support in spite of the
hesitation of the general public. The coal
stocks have been features of the rise, on the
agreement of the anthracite companies to a
division of production on a definite basis.
Foreign exchange declined on the absence of
inquiry and a slightly better supply of COM
mercial bills, but has rallied a little and is dull
at 4.sSlk@4.SS% for demand sterling. Only
$500, 900 gold was shipped this week Ito South
America), and several millions are en- route
from London for use in the bond subscription.