The times., 1899-12-22

NEW YORK, Dec. 2I-The stock mar
ket today continued irregular and some
what unsettled. The dealings were in fair
volume. and were weI distributed and re-
fected the same general characteristics that
have been present throughout the week.
The scattering liquidation that was occa-
Eionally noted in certain quarters Of the
market undoubtedly represented The con-
tinued selling Of weakened operators, and
It may be added that there was throughout
the day considerable buying Of stocks. The
latter was undoubtedly for the purpose Of
acquiring securities, without any idea Of
forcing advances in prices, and was of q
substantial character. Specifically re-
garded, The course of prices was somewhat
discouragiHg. and speculative sentiment
was disturbed by reason of the fact that
the liquidation of long accounts was sim
in progress. bur such liquidation was in
evitsbIe after Mondays market, and il is
an inVariable sequence Of similar periods
Of speculative decentralization.
The market opened unfavorabily, influ
enced hy the severe declines in prices that
appeared iD the quotations from London.
ConsOls showed a further sharp decline, and
the losses in the American quarter of the
London market extended 10 points. Con-
trary 10 expectations the discount rate Of
the Bank Of England was left unchanged
at Der cent, but the Bank of France ad-
vauced its discount rate 10 ! - per cent,
and the outside London discount figures
were fully 3-4 per cent higher than the
bank minimum rate The strength Of
Continental discount checked the advance
in sterling exchange both in Paris and
Berlin. The local sterling exchange mar
Eet was only fairly steady ard there were
quite free offerings Of bankers bills, pre-
cursOrs Of shipments of gold by Saturdays
outgoing steamship Trustworthy authori-
ties on the foreign exchange situation were
disposed 10 think that expectations in re
gard 10 the amount OF gold 10 be shipped
on Saturday were somewhat exaggerated.
end were OF the opinion that the shipment
would not be in excess of 5000 geo. The
foreign arbltrage houses sold heavily in
this market throughout the morning.
The extreme declines in the railway list
extended 10 round figures in a number Of
instances and easily averaged over one
point Notably weak features were the
the Northern Pacific and UniCn Pacific
issues. Chicago and Northwestern, and the
Baltimore and Ohio shares. New York
Central was comparatively firm, as was TO
be expected after yesterday advance in
tne dividend rate. together with tho ac-
companviug statement rejecting the high
prosperity OF the company There were
some severe losses scored in the stocks
elassed as specialues and industrials. Con
spieuous losses appeared in Peoples Gas,
Sugar Refining, and Metropolitan Street
Railway. Manhattan also sold al The low
est point II has reached in many months
presumably because OF the apprehension
Of d further clash with the municipal au-
thorities- The dealings in Brooklyn Rapid
Transit continued in very large volume
and the stock underwent wide fluctuations
The rumors that We're current yesterday OF
q personal character were again in active
circulation today. and, aside from their
evident bearing, there was nothing 10
which the violent fluctuations in the stock
market could be referred.