The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-01-25
THE BUSINESS OUTLOOK.
CONSIDERABLE IRREG ULARfTY IN
TRADE rs REPORTED.
Staple Products Show . Tendency to Al
vance-The Drop in Iron and steel
the Shortest on Record.

NEW YORK. Jan. AR. q. Dun =
co. will say tomorrow In their Weekly
Review of Trade:
Failures for ffteen days OF January
have shown liabilities amounting 10 yi2.-
5}s. 6l7 against sT.50i,20 IN seventeen
days of last year and Si365SvJo In
eighteen days OF 1904
The failures for the week have been
313 i'm the United States. against 5tSs
last year. ana al ia canada, against ovo
The week has been marked by Improve
ment apparent rather than real.
Prices OF some products have risen,
but only because supplies are believed TO
be smaller than was expected. Irices Ot
pig iron and bille.s have risen, but be-
cause coke and ores have been made
dearer. and not because OF any better
demand FOR finished product
Money mas been easier, but only be-
cause more has been borrowed from
Europe at time when the actual balance
OF trade takes money hence 10 EUROPE.
The Senate still Injuries all business .!
doing nothing, and the Treasury eann9t
expect to gam IN gold as yet, but losses
are less than was expected. IL - sener-
ally assumed that the new loan VIII De
placed without difficulty. business at thc
mills does not revive.
Payments through clearinghouse Tor
the week are 60 per cent. larger thah
last year. but less than Ia is't5. being less
satisfactory than FOR long Time
TEXTILE INDUSTRIES.
Textile Industries do not gain: with
materials practically unchanged they
halt because the demand Tor tuture ue-
livery Is 30 narrow. Cotton manntae-
turers have for months been storing W
staple goods, but prices have graduaiiy
declined ever since October 1ith, ana
nov average J.4 per cent. lower than al p
the point.
Woollen goods also tend lower. with
nd MI ar.. ar
prices of a year ago, though WOOL -
higher.
The iron and steel business finds en-
couragement in the advance OF besssiNer
pig TO Sl3 at Pittsburg and gray IorHe
TO SlI.2J. but these are results of the
advance ordered by combinations IN coke
and ore. -
and southern pix is pressed TOR sale
Finished products are not stronger.
While pig iron has advanced luo per
cent. since January lst, prices OF finished
products average IL per cent. lower thah
at that time.
The demand Is plainly too small for
the supply, and the works M operation
are killing profits for each other ny un-
derbidding. In such a case lower prices
for pig, ore, and coke would seem IN.
evitable. but last year the raw mstcriai
hosted everything else, ana some eA-
pected the operation 10 be repeated.
While thirteen furnaces I'm the Pitts
burg district have stopped since January
ST. The domand for products Of ron has
not, on the whole. Increased, parry pe pe-
tions have ali refused to lower prices.
BRADSTREETS
Bradstreet's tomorrow will say:
An analysis OF special teltsrams 10
Bradstreets from the more Important
business centres throughout the country
shows considerable irregularity IN lrane,
the most favorable feature being the
It ndency OF staple prices TO advance.
THE late drop IN iron and steel prices
was one OF the shortest on record.
'"Ihcre ls interest attached 10 tne ar
nouncement that ten car loads OF Mobile
cotton are AZ Tacoma awaiting snip
ment to Yokohama.
'"lhe fear OF disturbances In ,he money
market as the result OF subscriptions
for the new Government bonds mas been
greatly modified. and time money Is OF
fered more freely.
London has inclined to buy stocks.
and short covering has helped the ad"
vance. The stock market Is, however,
narrow and professional. Foreign ex-
change Is dull and less ilrm al ts'
Gold shipments for the week are w.
100000. No exports are announced by
Saturdays steamers. Gold imports Tor
bond subscription purposes were siyv,-
900. The premium OF Ag9s Tor gold or
legal tenders for use In the same con.
nection IL stll quoted. but transactions
are less important. II seems that bid
ders for the new bonds have generally
completed tnclf ARRANGEMENTS. Inc tdii~
ing Off OF II business failures I'm the
number reported from the United states
this week, the total only being 3il, COM
pared with il2 last week. Is somewhat
Unexpected but no less favorable, tor
compared with the total one year ago.
3l2, the contrast Is less marked. In
the corresponding week In 1894 there
were 33S failures, three more than this
week, and IN the like week OF 1903, al
a period When business was OF large
volume and considered prosperous, the
total was 3U1.
Most favorable reports rgarding the
movement OF merchandise. present and
prospective are from Baltimore, where
orders are being received freely and
prospects for spring trade are bright:
from Bufalo, where the money market
is reported more active than for two
years past and from Charleston, where
almost all leading jobbers report an i'm
provement In business.