The age-herald., 1900-02-17
FINANs1At RRYTEW

New York, February 16.-Bradstreets financial review tomorrow will say:
 Activity in speculation decreased this week and the market became decidedly more professional. The undertone of prices 1 was strong and the weakness which de- veloned was, except in the case of few l special.es, productive of merely moderate | recessions in prices, which were attributa- | bIe to realizing rather than to any renewal l of general bearshness on the part of the l large traders. The market, however, l showed certain degree of indifference to l favorable news and even failed to respond l to London's cheerful recerdion of the news 1 that the first step in the move of the Brit ish forces into Boer territory has been suc- cessfulfy accomplished, including the ap- parent relief of Kimberley. There continu- ed to be abundance of the same kind Of
 developments in regard to our own rail-
 road and industrial interests which had
 served as an incentive for the recent ad-
 vance in the market. Gross railroad earn ings for January and for the first week of February show, in most cases, large in- creases, and there has been further tangl- l be confirmation of the belief that several companies, particularly those identified with the steel and iron trade are making remarkable profits.
 In some instances the industrial stocks responded moderately to the irregulation of such reports, but the groCO as whole was influenced more by disposition to take profits the part of those who had bought in the recent r.se than by the ap- pearance of fresh buying.
 In the railroad list, Hnhe the trunk line shares were exceptionally strong and well
 supported, there was a.so a good deal or irreguaIity, and when the market, as was several times the case. became dull. tend ency for prices to sag off developed. Spe- ciaties and manipulated stocks accordingly 1 a ad al and though the market at large was not particularly influenced by the irregular fluctuations in American Sugar, 1t paid some attention to the performance in Third Avenue shares, and was on Thursday afternoon. visiby unsettled when the stock broke quite sharply on news that the bankers who were to finance the floating debt had with drawn from the arrangement.
 Money has continued sufficiently easy for Wall street to disregard the large increase in loans and decrease in the surplus serve shown by last Saturdays bank sta;e- ment, or the intimat tions that money is no longer coming from the interior of New York. Favorable comments on the prob able effect of the currency bill, should it speedily become a law, are heard in many quarters, but the market was prac ctically unaffected by the weeks developments at
 Washington in that quarter, and seems to have given more heed to the fact that the treasury this week has been drawing on it's pdianceS In the depository banks at New
 York The demand for bonds is still ex- cellent, and prices for both prime invest ment securities and second grade of bonds hold firm with fair buying in progress. Worlds Visible Supply
 New Orleans, February 16.-Secretary Hesters statement of the worlds visible supply of cotton, made up from special cable and telegraphic advices, compares the figures of this week with last week, last
 year, and the year before. It shows a de-
 against a decrease of ,124 last year, and
 d decrease of 14,314 year before last.
 The total visible is 4,OS9 ISL against 4,143,-
 5S9 last week, 5,472.6S4 last year and 1926 196 year before last Of this the total of Ameri- can cotton is 3,S22, ,731, against 3362 5S9 last week, 4490,6S4 last year, and ,196 year before last, and of all other kinds, includ- i ing Egypt Brazil, India, etc., 767 900, against 7S1, ,000 last week. 9S2 900 last year, and 764,- 900 year before last.
 The total worlds supply of cotton shows a decrease compared with last week of B, ,S6S bales, a decrease compared with last year of 1,3S2953, and a decrease compared with year before last of S36, ,465.
 Of the worlds visible supply as above
 there is now afloat and held in Great Brit
 ain and contental Europe 1,S54.000 bales
 against 3,367,000 last year, and 25SS,0O0 year
 before last; in Egypt 193,000 against 274 900
 last year and 262,000 year before last; in In-
 dia, 347O00 against 41S,000 last year, and 253,-
 900 year before last; in the United States,
 169S,000 against ,000 last year and 1923 900 | the year before