The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-30

CHICAGO. Dec 29.-Wheat today was ap-
parently held up for time by ouylng
furry In oats. In the last half hour the
leading brokers of the bull clique in wheat
started to sell some May, and the crown
emulated and in the end surpassed their Ell
forts In that direction. December wheat was
left at a decline of SAC and May l12c Corn
declined sc. Oats were left at practlcaily
Yesterdays closing Provisions were strong
after a weak opening and made substantial
gains in prices.
Wheat was a shade easier at the opening
because of a decline of 4d at Liverpool.
There was nothing else of a bearish char
acter in the news the traders had before them
at the opening and the market, in conse-
auence ruled firm during the forenoon with
in narrow fractions Of the starting prices
The opening in May was from 94c to 94zsc'
compared with yesterdays close of 94Ac. Inc
smell of weakness when the strength wh1ch
developed in oats affected wheat, and the
market recovered in a short time TO S44sW
q41hc. and kept close to those fractions all
morning Trading was exceedingly narrow
Traders who favored the bear side learned
lesson from the buzz-saw tendencies developed
Yesterday and kept away, and in the alb
sence of any important buying demand Tue
market was almost stagnant at times
estimated the day before; the number OF
cars received by Fail was 1S5, and out OF
that 81 were contract. The total addition
for the dav to contract stocks in regular ele-
vators was estimated at $4,000 bu MIME
apolis and Duluth reported AL cars, against
az the corresponding day OF the previous
week and 227 year ago. The Atlanuc port
clearances of wheat and -four were equal to
$4,000 bu This helped sustain prices. Inc
estimates of the Argentine eXportaole surplus
circulated yesterday, making it b6,OOO,OOO pu,
was less generally accepted today All the
other estimates from reliable and usually well
informed sources make Argentine export Ca
pacity for the next twelve months somewhere
between Is, 600 and Sc, 100000 bu.
The market began to weaken in the after
noon. when closing cables indicating rather
easy foreign markets were received. The
bearishness that started continued to in
crease as the session neared its end, and
whereas no one dared touch 1t in the fore
noon. the whole crowd got after it when they
saw it was on the run Allen Grier, for
the bull clique put a big line on the market
and from 1880, to which price May mad
dropped meanwhile, that option dropped, like
a shot to 929sc everybody taking KICK at
It. Then 1t rebounded, and just at the close
II sold at $3.50 a decline of 11ac. Little was
done in December, but 1t also was neaVy.
Armour & Co. were reported sellers Of 1t
through brokers' 1t opened at $50 and de-
cIined to 96Ac, closing at that, as compared
with, R2I3c yesterday.
Corn ~ inclined to be weak. There was
a good-sized scalping trade. with prices easy
early. on liquidation, with steadiness later
with oats, then weak finally with wheat, con-
siderable profit taking and liquidation accel-
Grating the downward movement. The close
was easy at close to bottom Figures. May
ranged from 9O1Bc to 295sQ2924c, and closed
at 29%c. The market for oats was again
a large and important one, and was the
strongest of all the grains. Opening steady,
prices suffered a slight decline through liquid
alton by longs. Good buying by commission
houses, short scalpers and the trade in gener.
al soon caused an advance, which carried
the price to 24Ac, the highest since last Au-
gust. Yesterdays heavy buyers were again
prominent today. Proft-taking and the slump
In wheat caused some reaction near the close
May ranged from 24Ac to 23Ac and closed
at 23B@24c.
There was quite active trade IN pro-
visions with all the products strong. A lit
tie weakness developed at the start due to
q reduction of prices at the yards, but at the
decline both packers and shorts became &C
tive buyers with a good many orders from
the outside. The market became very strong
and maintained most of the Improvement to
higher at S9.O21a May lard 71ac higher at
S4.771k and May ribs 21ac higher at $455. EST
mated receipts Thursday: Wheat, 24O cars;
corn, 400 cars oats, $50 cars; hogs, $1,000
head.
The leading futures ranged as follows: