The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-05-06
WHEAT LEAPS UPWARD.
Highest Point Reached Since the Days
 of "Old Hutch"


 of "Old Hutch."
 New York, May 5.-The sensational feature in wheat this afternoon was furnished by the May option. In steady leaps and bounds of several cents at clip it bowled along until stopped by the closing gong at 145, the highest point since the days of "Old Hutch" On this basis cash No. Red would be nominally worth 147 in this market. The July option kept very strong all the afternoon and closed fin- ally at 109 S-4 after sales at no IA representing advances of 5 5-S over Tuesdays closing and S-4 above yes- terday's curb price. May closed g cents higher than Tuesday and 27 cents above low point this week. It was simply a gigantic squeeze of shorts, made possible by the duty removals in France, Italy and Spain, which is ex- pected to swing an enormous export business this way in the next two months. In keeping with the jump in wheat there has been a corresponding big addition to the price of flour, amounting to 75 cents for the week. Spring patents to-day in the New York market were worth $65O to s675, while winter straights brought $5.3S to $5.5O, and winter patents $5.8O to $6 per bar rel.
 Chicago, May 5.-One dollar and fifty cents per bushel was the price of May wheat at the end of the session to-day of the board of trade. This represents an advance over yesterday of 20 cents. July wheat gained 35-S. To-day's ad- many years A grain famine abroad and enormous sales of American wheat to fill the empty granaries of Europe caused the advance here. Shorts were driven to cover and one small failure was announced.
 Liverpool set the ball rolling by re- porting another sensational advance there at the opening, the gain in July, compared with the previous days clos ing quotation, being about seven cents bushel. The reason for the Liverpool advance was the continental competi- tion for the wheat cargoes arriving off coast in the United Kingdom.
 The market opened at an advance of one cent for July and six cents for May July wheat started at 99ss, sold up to 10Oas and dropped back to 9sss. May which began at 137, reacted to 131. Lei ter brokers bought July on the decline and accumulated couple of million bushels. Toward 12 o'clock bull news began to take effect Closing cables showed advances of 71s in the London market, cents at Liverpool, 4d al Antwerp and Cd at Paris. Then Letter announced the sale of two million bush els No. 2 red to 8 French syndicate at $1.E per bushel. In addition Letter sold 750,000 bushels in odd lots. This set the pit wild. May wheat, which had rallied to the opening price-1S7- jumped to 150, with 2 and cents be- tween sales.
 Trade was not broad. It simply meant that shorts were trying to get out regardless of cost. At 150 Letter brokers stopped the advance by selling a few small lots, but the market closed strong at that figure. July was han dicapped by free liquidation for a. time From around 99A it gradually worked up, gathering strength slowly, but finally touching 101. Then it dropped back to 100. Ten minutes before the close 1t rose rapidly to 102, slid off in two minutes to 1011a and rose again to 102, where tremendous amount was for sale, but it rose irresistibly to 1O3h slumped again to 102 and closed at 1O2A bid.