The herald., 1896-10-20

parently no end to the sensational de-
velopments connected with the present
bull campaign in wheat. Today the
market eclipsed all previous efforts by
rising perpendicularly AZ cents at the
opening. The jump was attended by
wild excitement. Commission houses
had more than the usual number of out
side orders the advance having attroct-
ed the attention of the speculative pub
lie. Local traders were also eager buy
ers and foreign houses followed suit.
The result was an avalanche Of buying
orders that fairly turned the wheat pit
topsy-turvy The excitement was in
creased by private cables announcing a
Scent advance in Liverpool wheat with
heavy speculative activity. By noon
local transactions had run up to IL ,o0o,-
900 bushels and for the entire day they
reached the total of 2o,1o5,0oO bushels.
The afternoon was marked by tendency
to take profits on early purchases, and
prices lost 2 cents a bushel or half the
local advance, closing from "a to rs
cents higher than Saturday night. De-
cember opened at 85M against S1A Sat-
urday; sold up to se1s and dropped back
to SAN, closing at S45s. Traders said the
bulge in wheat beat anything they had
seen in years. Business al over the floor
was temporarily suspended to watch the
battle between the bulls and the bears
while crowds of spectators in the CALLER
les showed evidence of the widespread
interest now manifested in the wheat
market No failures were reported dur
ing change hours. Only the hardest of
the local element dared trust themselves
in the market and the short interest has
been reduced to the minimum. Scalpers
jumped in and out of the market all day.
taking small losses and generally reap
ing profits. Everybody was imbued with
the bull fever. Corn and oats and pro-
visions all me de big advances during the
forenoon. ABOUT 100000 bushels were
bought for export at the close.
The stock movement today though
moderate in volume was interesting ow-
ing to variety of divergent influences
Stringency in money and the practical
withdrawal of the banks from the mar
ket for mercantile paper was offset by a
sensational advance in wheat and de-
cided strength in corn and other food
products The domestic market follow
ed rise of wheat in Liverpool of cents
bushel, by an advance Of Az cents in
the December option. Furthermore, a
decided gain in eastbound shipments
was reported and coincident with the ad-
vance in money to an extreme 10 per
cent on call, foreign exchange worked to
a lower basis. Actual sterling fell u
and posted quotations were shaded u to
f.ov7S dHQ fof..
Demand Is light in the face Of free Of
ferings Of commercial acceptances. The
majority Of the call money transactions
were made at and per cent. Some
time loans were made at IL per cent to
ninety days, but the offerings of funds
are light. For the first time in many
months bids were made for stocks at
buyers option sixty days" This man
ner of trading is expected to be a fea-
ture in the next ninety days, as both
parties to the contract Of this character
can protect themselves by deposits in
trust company against the transaction.
Firmness in stocks at the opening soon
developed into positive strength, al
though the distribution of the trading
was very Indifferent. The railway
stocks were unusually prominent, the
immediate heavy movement Of grain
and other staples counteracting
some unfavorable traffic returns. The
improvement became more pronounced
as the day progressed, and the closing
was strong at top figures. Among the
| more important gains were 81, in sugar
| and ~ in Burlington. Railway bonds
! were quiet and devoid Of feature aside
from 4 sharp fractional gain in Atchi-
son seconds, on large transactions. The
sales were $732,000. Government bonds
were strong and fractionally higher
on dealings Of $25000. Silver certificates
rose " per cent to 66, the transactions
being $4,000