Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-22
MARKETS BY TELEGRAPH.



New York, N Y, March 2l.--(Special.)-
Cotton has had a sharp rise this week.
May, which closed at 7.54 on last
Saturday having advanced on Thurs
day to 7.s2. Two things have been
noteworthy about this rise-first. that it
was caused almost exclusively by the buy
ing of frightened bears to cover sales, and,
secondly, that the single strong operator,
who barely makes his influence felt in the
market nowadays, but who in prestige and
resources easily overtops all the other lead
ers in the exchange, yesterday and today
was a seller, and Notwithstanding an en-
couraging Liverpool report today prices
broke May opened this morning at I'll,
and declined with scarcely any rally to ISL,
closing steady. btt-at the lowest of the day,
and 81 points below the highest of the week.
Traders this morning were all agog~over
the question whether we have seen the cul-
mination of the advance, or whether to-
days break is only preparatory to fresh
and bigger bulge next week. 1t is true that
the receipts are light, with a large and
tive consumption abroad and Liverpool
might not be ayerse to q higher range of
values; but trade in this country is very
bad, the amount Of cotton still to come in
Is an uncertain quantity, and there is no
prospect of prospective scarcity of the
staple anywhere, while the Certainty that
monster crop is lion In the path of the
bulls. There are few sanguine traders
here who claim and perhaps believe that
we shall have materially higher prices be-
fore August. They may be right, but they
are at present in a small minority. We
agree with the majority in the belief that
as the season advances the general ten
dency of the market will be towards lower
values. RIORDAN & co.
Chicago Change.
Chicago March 21.-Wheat closed the
week with a moderate recovery in prices.
Considering the weakness of the earlier
part of the week and the decline which has
lately taken place, 1t was extraordinary
that the action of the market was upward.
known operator who had put out line
the down turn distributed buying orders
amongst the several brokers the purchases
We're advancing ST. Louis and other south
western points sent buying orders, the eff
feet of which was the holding of values at
a moderate Improvement over yesterday.
The weather bureau predicted a cold wave,
some of the demand being induced thereby.
bearish. May wheat opened at 617s@62c,
advanced to S623sc, closing at 6212d625sc,
ase higher than yenssFpaayb cash wheat
Corn-No interest was apparent in corn.
An easy opening was followed by a frmer
tone, with some gain in prices. The mo-
found to come from wheat. The buying
was mainly to cover. previous sales, the
corn opened at 295sc, advanced to 29Ac,
closing at 29ssc sM14c higher than yester-
day. Cash corn ruled steady at yesterdays
prices.
Oats-The strength communicated to oats
by wheat resulted in higher prices. July
was in good demand, but marked disin-
clination to sell May option was observed.
fair business in the way of covering by
the shorts took place. May oats closed ls4
liz opdn autt to
& shade easier, closing steady
ProvisionsA better feeling developed in
products today, the selling of the past few
DAYS have created scattered short inter-
est, which was disposed to cover The hog
market was firm at an advance of &c. Pork
and lard closed unchanged and May ribs
quiet.