The herald., 1898-05-06
ON CHANGE
Conditions as Shown by Transactions
on Wall Street

NEW YORK, May 5.-Professional oper-
ators all turned bulls today, after brief
period Of doubt and hesitation after the
opening of the stock exchange. AS mat
ter of fact they were forced into this posi-
ton by the unmistakable temper of the
outside public, manifested by their disposi-
tion to come into the market and buy stocks
in large blocks at the market prices. The
profits operators made were somewhat cur
tailed by the failure of the London market
to show any Independent interest in Amer
lean securities yet while Wall street was
taking holiday. The same element was
apparently rather wary of the advance in
London before the opening here this morn
ing, and were. disposed to attribute it to
manipulation from this side. Prices here
failed to respond at the opening to the Lon
don advance and ruled below the London
parity for considerable time The market
was full of outside buying orders, and busi-
ness was on large scale, but had very
heavy burden of profit taking sales to carry
and the small opening gains were in large
part wiped out during the first hour. The
reaction here failed to impair the conf
tinued very active and strong. The buy
ing here for arbitrage was also on large
scale in all the international stocks, and
turned the scale to the bull side. Large
operators who had taken profits on Tues
day. and who were this morning impelled
by the apprehension that the rise was pro-
crossing too fast, felt renewed courage on
account of the support accorded by London
and the outside public, and turned buyers
Of stocks again. The market presented all
the characteristics Of the rampant bull
spirit. From time to time the general
strength was taken advantage of for heavy
profit taking. At other times, when there
was a disposition for business to languish,
stocks were rushed vigorously upward for
the purpose Of sustaining the general mar
ket. Rock Island was the center of inter-
est in the railroad list, and was lifted IL
points to parity with st. Paul. Sugar was
active and very volatile all day, covering
an extreme range of Az points, and gain
ing 3ss points net. The large majority of
stocks traded in are at least a point
higher, and net gains range from that up
to 8 points. There was no special develop
ment in the situation to account for the
conviction that Spain's capacity to carry
on the war Is nearly exhausted.
The bond market shared the activity and
strength Of the stock market, and shows
higher prices all along. Total sales. 50 ,525-
0O0 United States fours, registered, ad-
vanced X, do. coupons X in the bid price.
Others unchanged.
The sensational feature in wheat this
afternoon was furnished by the May op-
tion. In steady leaps and bounds of several
cents at a clip 1T bowled along until stopped
since the days Of "Old Hutch" On this
basis cash No. 2 red would be nominally
worth LAT In this market. The July option
kept very strong all the afternoon and
closed finally at 10s%, after sales at 1.10H,
days close and 2Ac above yesterdays close.
May closed 22c higher than Tuesday, &c
above the low point this week. It was
simply a. gigantic squeeze Of shorts, made
possible by the duty removals in France.
1t was expected to show an enormous bus-
ness this way In the next two months The
price OF flour has advanced 75c for the
week.