New-York tribune., 1900-03-11
financial.
The Financial World.

For snacuIation il is a sort of between ha,
grass time. The hull market. if one is conr,.~.
starts later: and saying of the Street ia ,sss
YOU don't want 20 be short OF stocks when ts
sap is rising in the trees. The bank reserves -
down i'm March. They did last year. They hav.
run down this year very greatly. The An-r
settlements approach. and these are ant :,
tighten UP money. All of which, taken N
petber. disposes the majority OF operators IN >.
slow: hence GuIIness. SO far this March. dpn,
ness has been the main feature OF the mars.,
n has speciaIIy been the case the past waaL
At such times the general list becomes ins-
and activity is confined to few stocks Sugar
Third Avenue. Metropolitan, Peoples Gas ana
one or two other stocks. have almost mouon
olized attention.
The publication OF yesterdays bank statema,s
with its big loss OF nearly $S.OO0OGO in the sur
plus reserve, bringing that fund down to less
than S6O01O0O above the legal line. was FOL
lowed by a rally in the, market. This was BE-
cause such a statement had been anticipated
had been sold against by the traders, and when
il came out they promptly covered shorts. AZ.
vantage has TO be taken Of any favoring cireum-
stance to cover shorts when you are trading
i'm a dull market which has undertOne or
strength as this one undoubtedly has Despite
the diminishing reserve. il would seem thar
there must be large amounts Of money seeking
investment, or there would have been sub
scriptfons here 10 the British war loan. The
rate of interest il pays Is so low. thai ther.
seemed no induCement to subscribe a dollar
yet find Unexpectedly large amount
offered. 1t is the more surprising, because this
time would seem 10 be very unfaVorable with
bank reserves run down and rising rates Of IN
terest ahead of us for the remainder OF the
month 1t only goes 10 show how largely the
Of he iS growing After
exhibit we may expect that European countries
when they make new loans. will offer them here
the same as they offer them in the various
financial centres of Europe; and that in course
Of time our big financial institutions will show
in the list Of Government bonds they own. not
only those of the United States. but tn1s. Of
England France Germany and Russia There
is Russian lean here already, but ~
made under special conditions, not applicable TO
the British loan. How far the subscriptions to
the latter will affect foreign exchange. is some
thing for the exchange experts 10 figure upon.
One thing is certain-no two or them VIII agree
about II. They never do.
Apparently. the market was not affected By
the peace rumors in respect to South Africa
There appears to be nothing in them The
Beers have not been beaten enough Vet 70 ser
ously propose peace. on the contrary, II looks
as if there was a great deal of hard fighting yet
to be done; though, whatever its varying
fortunes may be, the final end is certain II s
probable the rumOrs referred TO had their origin
In the remark OF the Chancellor OF the Exchsquer
TO the bankers that the news from South Africa
was such that IL possible the full amount Of
the loan would not be needed The loan
calculated for war expenses up 70 September
During the coming week. the Currency BIZ
may be expected 10 become a law. The first
effect will be to add S2OO1OOOO 10 the bank cir
culation being the 10 per cent difference be
tween the amount allowed to be issued The
old bonds and the new; after that will cOms
the cashing by the Treasury of such amounts
of the old bonds holders do not desire %
change into the new per cents But as 70 Ia
amount of increase in bank circulation whies
may follow from the general operation Of ths
act it is 10 be noted that there is the widez
diversity of opinion among bankers. SO If The
doctors can't agree. outsiders may give
up-merely remarking that Comptroller Dawes
says there will be S1OoOo0.O00 increase. We may
assume. however. with safety. that all holders
of old bonds who prefer cash TO the new Per
cents. intend to invest that cash in bonds paying
better rates of interest which implies a consii-
cradle increase of investment in first class rail-
road bonds There has already been good dsa
of selling OF the old Governments by people
who want something better than per cent for
their money
If railroad bonds of the first class forced
up through the operation Of the CiOvernmsHi
conversions, then bonds of the second class vii
have the way cleared for an upward move BY
them. In less degree good preferred stocks Of
various companies will get the benefit asa
When the April settlements are out OF the way
the bond market ought to improve. and II Is n
pretty good shape now Bond dealers say thsFe
is difficulty in finding plenty OF buyers ai
current quotations
The wolf did come in Sugar az last; but a.
far concerns the market quotations for ths
stock. he did most of the damage before hs
public appearance The price first ran above
par and then considerably below IL on the DAY /
the dividend reduction was announced: but L
has since worked hack to par again. On ths
surface. IL would seem that Sugar as a per csni
stock ought not to sell above 90: seeing that as
- per cent stock. it ruled at figure consider
ably below what il would have sold at Il tas
public confidence in the security had beer
stronger The discount from what might haT'
been its price represented uncertainty, and ts I
same uncertainty applying 10 the per csr'
stock Should give price around the fgur
named This however, il VIII be seen is mercy
an argument on general principles: and IL woua
not he Well TO heavy on them with a TN T
margin.
There is nothing in Third Avenue affairs
be added to what said here last week
which came from high authority Some sFss /
covering OF shorts in the stock was noted one !
or twice during the week Metropolitan hs
been rather weaker since President Vreelanf'
announcement that eight 10 ten millions vss |
to be spent on the property this year II is SUI
missed that this involves a further issue
stock; and some people think that the selling
the stock is already bei II iS NJ ueceS