The sun., 1898-02-24
11xAxo11b AND oonMERo11I.
WEpNrspAY. Fob. %.

The feeling Of nervousness and apprehension
that has been steadily growing In Wall stree
ever since the disaster to the Maine was mos
pronounced to day. AS matter OF fact, 1t wa
only the extraordinary purchases OF stock
By London that averted complete demorali
sation. Foreign arbitrage houses, afteI
conforring among themselves, estimated thei
aggregate purchases at upward Of 50.o0t
shares. This movement was surprise TO Wal
street, and is not adequately explained by ad
vices descriptive OF tho London market thai
have come co nand. Tho most natural
explanation 10 that foreign operators moi
only do not share the apprehension
that prevails hore. but also entertain
the view that II tho fears which have found cx
precision in tho local stock market during the
last few days prove to bo warranted, the ter
mination Of peaceful relations between this
country and Spain would not be an unmixed
evil since hostilities would stimulate practically
every industry in tho United States. Still
another view is that fairly large short interest
in American securities exists in London, and
the present decline affords tho first opportunity
for covering It. Tho foreign purchases Offset
local liquidation only during the first half hour
or SO of business. and though that buying con-
tinued on an unusually heavy scale until after
tho middle of the day. speculative holders
of stocks have apparently become SO wrought
up by the possibilities growing out Of the Maino
episode, by tho delayed preparations for coast
dcfenses that arc being made and by the sem
sational and In many cases misleading reports
that arc constantly being circulated regarding
the condition Of affairs In and abont Havana
and also In Washington that they are con-
strained to part with their holdings at almost
any price. Many brokers have aggravated this
feeling by advising their customers to throw
over thsir stocks and In some cases BY declining
m hu atock m rho uRual margin.
This condition OF affairs has given the bear
fish contingent an opportunity which 1t has not
bcen slow to improve. Tho leaders ON that side
of tho market have wisely attacked the most
vulnerable members Of the list, namely. those
stocks which In tho opinion Of many were ad-
vanced to ounwarranted prices during the last two
or three months. The level to which the stocks
referred to were manipulated unquestionably
tempted tho taking of profits on O largo scale by
those most intimately familiar with the In
trinsic value of the securities they have helped
to create, namely, tho largest holders Of them.
It 10 not surprising. therefore, that Met
ropolitan Street Railway. Manhattan Ele.'
vated and Sugar Refining have declined
almost as rapidly they advanced All
of these stocks. as we'll many Of the active
railway shares. have been honeycombed for ten
days or moro past with stop loss orders, tho
execution of which has accelerated the down
to-day was of Sugar Refining. which, with Man
haitian Railway. Rock Island, Jersey Central
and Metropolitan Railway, sustained tho great
est net losses. Tho last named. on sales Of less
than 10 900 shares. closed points lower than on
Monday, making tho total declines from tho
highest price recorded nearly 80 points. The
market was at times irregular, not only because
of tho London buying, but because some of tho
larger commission houses appeared pur-
chasers OF stock on q moderate scale. Traders
for short account gave unmistakable evidence
that they are alert to detect buying of that
character and do not propose to have their
profits reduced by it should 1t assume extensive
proportions.
The total transactions were considerably
smaller than on Monday. and they were not
quite as we'll distributed. The bond market was
q little moro active. and though prices a rule
were lower, the market cannot be described
as weak. As bearing upon the character
of tho investment demand. 1t is to
be noted that the entire issue of tho
per cent. Canal bonds sold by this
State last Friday has already been disposed of
by tho bankers who bought them. 1t is also
worth noting that the market for Government
bonds has not yet been disturbed that tho
money market remains practically I'M
changed. and that foreign exchange is
lower On account of tho extraordinary pur-
ehases Of stocks by London. In due time
the Street may realize that tho unfortunate
events of the last ten days or two weeks have
been utilized by few shrewd operators and
largo brokerage houses to precipitate and ac-
oentuate a perfectly natural reaction in tho
market for securities. Tho closing was weak,
at about the lowest prices.