The evening times., 1899-12-12

The stock market this morning was at
first extremely weak again and then
stronger before noon with al apparent ten
deucy to recover sharply. The surface fucI-
nations, however. are of little moment in
such a market and il was realized that the
c-ose of the day might quite easily show
either good advances or further declines. On
the whole chances favor a traders market
for a day or two, with some recovery from
the low points reached yesterday and this
morning. The first tumble in prices today
was due 10 disappointment that there had
been no announcement of help from the
Secretary of the Treasury, which was prom
ised by many of the Wall Street prophets
yesterday afternoon and caused some conf
dent buying and quick covering Of shor,
contracts Before II o'clock buying of Sc
curities for investment and for good turn
began in prominent quarters, and this again
caused covering by, the bears. Standard Oil
and other prominent speculative interests
were buyers. though whether their pur-
chases were for investment or only for a
rally it could not be determined. The money
situation is still the -overshadowing factor
in the market and rates this morning were
a trifie better than they were yesterday. Be-
fore many days there will undoubtedly be
heavy buying to discount the better pros
poets in this direction for January.
The granger5 were among the weakest
securities on the railway list all selling
lower than they did at any time yester-
day. St. Paul went as low as 12O Ia,
Rock Island as low as 109 1-2. and Bur-
lington as low as 12S. Other railway Sc
curities also showed downward tendency,
however and it was noticeable that COM
pared with the industrials. their breaks
fhnv
This was what might have been expected.
1t has been pointed out in this column
that after very heavy break of the in
dustrials largely on short selling there
must follow tumble in the railway Sc
curities to allow the shorts to cover This
feature Of the situation this morning was
considered by many one of the best signs
yet seen Of a recovery.
showed strength, while the remainder of
the market was weak. Its movements are
another indication of the entirely profess
sional character of the trading in it. Some
belated longs bought the stock yesterday
and this morning, hoping to recover some
Of their losses in other directions, but there
could hardly be a mere foolhardy method
The stock may advance but it is quite as
likely to decline to 6 as to advance to 20.
1t is worth somewhat less than nothing, in
trinsically. .oa
There is nothing in this market with all
its declines to cause loss of faith in the
Pacific securities, and in any other railway
stocks. These securities have gone of
very little and are now selling at prices
well above the low prices of two and three
months ago. And at the same time they
are quoted far below their intrinsic value.
Northera Pacific. common. is soon to be on
a per cent dividend basis. and 90 and 54
is not an adeQuate index of this prosperity.
Pacific Mail may, Of course. have some
further decline. but it is believed that pur-
chases made around the present level will
show excellent profits inside of MONTH
Everything in the outlook for this stock
is favorable.
The directors of the Federal Steel Com
pany are to meet today for the considera-
tion of the dividend on the preferred stock.
Three per cent has been promised by the
president Of the company This will put
the stock on a per cent basis 1t Is be-
lieved to be an excellent purchase around
the present leyels s~-~
Colorado Fuel and Iron looks like pur-
chase to many. The company will in Gay
or two make Its earnings report, showing
the best month in the history of the COM
pany.
w..hsu~tcu s~<~nr Hx.as