The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-14
FtmnMc1ai.
9HE STOCK MARKET.
Less Under Influence of the Strength of
individual Stocks.

Less Under Influence of the Strength of
individual Stocks.
New York, Dec. 19.-The stock market
to-day was less under the influence Of
the strength of individual stocks and
more under that of the coming exigen-
cies of the money market. Even the
sensationally and buoyant rise in the
Erie stocks of the last half hour hardly
served to more than check the liquida-
tion which was in active force in the
general market. Twenty-eight years is
given as the elapsed period since an
Erie company stock sold as high as SO
on the stock exchange. To-day the first
preferred sold at 525s in the late deal
| ings. Extreme advances for to-day in
the company's stocks were for the COM
mon 31s, for the first preferred 43s and
for the second preferred 5ss. The in
spired announcement that a contract of
sale had been signed between the Penn
SylNdIlld COdl CUiIlpdl4y ANA a. SS llSiASe'tc
headed by the Central Power in the an
thracite trade was the cause of the
buoyancy. The bid for Pennsylvania
Coal was rapidly advanced without
bringing out any stock except an occa-
sional odd lot at wide intervals until
full lot of hundred shares was sold at
1856 and another at 740 Last night the
stock was Clio bid and 675 asked. But
the market for it has been purely nom
inal and 1t sold at 4501s last month,
which was the highest price of the year
previous to-day.
Some flrmness was manifested in the
southwestern railroads on buying seem
ingly in the interest of the bull pool.
Otherwise selling was general through
out the list and those stocks which have
persisted in their upward movement
this week were as a rule the weakest.
This was noticeably true of the steel
gronp, in which the declines run to
polilto VI oNNl' toAAdl anu liAC ANEW
York public utilities fell from about
points to 81 in Consolidated Gas. A
number of other prominent stocks both
in the railroad and industrial list fell
from ! to ~. The large absorption of
special stocks earlier in the week by
powerful financial interests with indie
pendent resources has encouraged the
hope among speculative operators that
some relief was to be forthcoming from
the threatened stringency in the money
supply. At one time it conferred in an
expectation that the treasury depart
ment would buy several millions of
bonds for the sinking fund The incon-
sistency was pointed out of bidding for
government bonds by the treasury at
the same time that they are inviting
conversion into the refunding twos
which is to continue until December 81
Another hope was that the rise in the
money rate here would bring gold from
London. But the frmer tendency of
exchange late yesterday, and more en-
phatically this morning. has brought |
the speculative contingent face to face
with the certainty of a very weak bank
statement ON Saturday Already the /
has taken out over S4,-
900, 900 from the money market, compar
ed with surplus reserve last Satur-
day of only $5,701,12 On Monday next
the checks in payment of the Standard
Oil dividend will pass through the
clearing house, involving the disburse-
ment of $10,000000. The preparation
for this disbursement is likely to make
additional inroads on available credits
and so increase the reserve require
ments.
The bonds of the Erie company and
some of the southwestern railroads were
IN demand to-day. Otherwise the bond
market was rather fractional. The to-
tai sales par value aggregated $4,7S5,-
)O0
United States refunding twos advanc
I'd "a and old tours u and fives VI per
cent. on the last call.