The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-02-20
NE FLOOD MARK REACHED.
May Wheat ia Chicago Higher Than
For Some Years.
THE GRAIN PIT GREATLY EXCITED,
Letter Credited with Engaging
Ocean Freight Room for Four
Million Bushcls-Priccs Higher.

/ Chicago. February ie.--May wheat today
resched the hood mark Of recent years, selling
I;up to Loo and closing at i,os, an advance Of
si2c. July showed even moro sensational
strength and closed at e2,s. or sue over yes
tciday's price. after selling as high as ssM.
4 The market was stirred at frst by Letters
! statement that he had sold to consumers the
100000 bushels OF wheat he was sending
abroad, and attempts to cover weekly calls
| later caused the widest half hour that has
been seen on change for many months. Bro
kers for Letter helped 10 make things lively
! by hieding for July. All the other markets
| were affected by the extraordinary bullishness
of wheat. Corn advanced ,taissc and oats sc.
Provisions, in spite of heavy realizing, ad-
vanoed agsd7,sc
The most important information wheat
| traders had to start With was the statement
niaue by Joseph Letter that he had engaged
ocean freight room for 1000 900 bushels OF his
wheat all OF which had been sold to milsrs
ahe consumers. Liverpool cables also showed
some strength The result was a very strong
opening, May starting unchanged to he high
er at Io3isai.oi and advancing at once to
i'ps. There was u remarkable scarcity of Of
ieriIss and 1t took but very little buying to
advance the price July was fully ms active
an,i strong as May, the opening being is6fSsc
higher mt SS%@S9 and rising to % before
enputh wheat came out TO step the advance
me advance to Los in May was followed
by &c reaction, but reports that 800. 900 busn-
eis OF Letters wheat at Duluth was to be
sshlpped by ran to the seaboard stiHened the
backbone of the market, and prices soon rye
pach 10 the previous high point and then
passed 1T.
For half an hour the market hesItated ut
aronnc La for May and 30 for July. then sud
denly bedlam broke loose. Traders, in trying
TO protect themselves against weekly calls
discovered that the market was practically
bare OF offerings. and in their anxiety 10 get
wheat raised their bids 1.G at n time. About
the same time brokers for Letter appeared
with 4 number of buying orders for both May
ani Jay. All kinds of shorts were compelled
to stop losses. and for nearly half an hour
the market was In state OF excitement
In the meantime May had advanced to i19
and July to 9S&-more than &c over yester-
was flooded with wheat on realizing sales
aud sharp declines followed, May dropping IT.
regl larry TO .0S and July TO 9l&. After that
the excitement died down to great extent
Nevertheless the market was extremely ner-
vou5 to the close, and fluctuations in both fu
lures were rapid and at times violent.
The ordinary news OF the day was entirely
neglected. Duluth reported receipts of ~.
cars, compared with S0i year ago. Chicago
received 81 cars. Atlantic ports cleared equal
to as 900 bushels.
Closing prices were LOG for May and oi.s for
JUL.
Corn was excited and higher. due principally
to the influence of the bulge in wheat, although
tho small country offerings would probably
have made the market strong OIL its own au-
count The market closed steady.
The market for oats WAS fairly active. the
sti eneth OF wheat and corn was the influence;
cash demand was poor.
Realizing in provisions was pronounced all
day but the demand was good. especially Tor
shorts, on the advance OF grain, and tne
d, ice advanced somewhat. Prices at no tine
we're below yesterdays final figures. AZ the
close May pork WAS 7Iac higher and ribs 2isc
higher. SUM-, "a
Estimated receipts for Monday--Wheat %
cqns corn 550 cars, oats 3o5 cars, hogs 5000
head. ,