The sun., 1898-03-09
E1N1xo1An AND oonMEEo1AI.
TuEapAY. March 8.


Wall street was comparatively calm to-day.
The transactions in stocks were about ESQ. 900
shares less than yesterday and prices In tho
main showed an Improvement over tho nnnl
figures Of last night. Tho manifest change In
sentiment was due primarily TO the news that
Spain has abandoned its apparent intention
to ask for the recall Of Consul.Gon.
eral lee, and that the United States will
send transport instead OF a warship TO deliver
supplies to starving non.combatants in Cuba.
The London market wns affected by these Same
considerations and also by moro pacific out
look In the far East That market, however.
vas nervous in spite OF tho Improvement, be-
cause Of foars that tho fortnightly settlement,
which begins tomorrow. may develop serious
weakness in certain quarters. Novertho-
less, foreign arbitrage houses bought moro
stocks than they sold. Tho purchases on bal.
ance were not sufficiently large to be significant
At one time the London market was disturbed
by reports that the Queen was seriously ILL., An
authoritative statement that her illness IL not
serious suggested tho theory abroad that 1t
might be simply q pretext for not taking con.
templated trip to the Continent pending tho
present unsettled condition OF international
affairs.
Tho feature Of tho early trading on tho Stock
Exchange was an absence Of the pressure to
soil that was conspicuous yesterday. This
alone induced some buying for both accounts,
and as prices responded readily to 1t tho do
sire to recover stocks sold yesterday became
pronounced. BY midday very fair i'm.
provement upon the final prices Of yes
terday had taken place. That It was not
agreeable to fairly large short interest was
shown by tho circulation. during the afternoon,
" several disturbing rumors that were obviously
calculated to depress prices. Among them was
ono that Spain had purchased several war
ships. and another was that Consul.Gon-
cral Loo had been assassinated. Almost
simultaneously with tho circulation Of
these rumors tho afternoon newspapers
published advices from Madrid, London.
Havana, and Washington that were of . dis.
tinctly roassuring character. They told Of tho
disinclination of Spain to sever diplomatic re-
lations with this country. of her inability to
raise money outside Of her own boundaries. and
suggested that tho report of the Court Of Inquiry
appointed to investigate tho Maine disaster
would be non-committnl. More important than
any Of those reports, some of which may rot be
confirmed, was tho news from Washington of
tho evident determination of Congress to pass
the Cannon resolution placing $50. o.00O, 900 at
the disposal of tho Government to provide Tor
an emergency.
or purely financial news tho only important
development was the engagement of So, ,375, 900
gold abroad for shipment to this country, max
ing tho total movement since Feb. 25 over $l2,-
100000. Consignments that arrived to-day
make tho total that has como to hand nearly
R2O00,ooo. part of tho gold engaged for
shipment to-day was purchased from tho Bank of
England. and is in the form of American eagles.
Tho largo volume Of exports of merchandise. the
purchases of securities by Europe and sales of
some Of the long exchange that is being carried
hero depressed the foreign exchange market to
an extent that foreshadows further transfers of
gold from Europe to the United States. Tho
heaviest trading in stocks in the issues that
have received the most attention for some time
past. Tho average net improvement in them
was little less than point. Tho closing was IN
the main steady, at recessions from the best
prices, which in . number of cases exceeded
] y cent.