The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-04
in DIMINISHING SCALE
HusINEss ON THE sTOCK EXCHANGE
QUIET, CHANGES MIXED
Presidents Message Had Little of the
u.uaI Enecf-LocaI Trade Opens
Well; Prices Firm to Strong.
Cor. Washington Street and Virginia Av'

At New York yesterday money on call was
orrner at sisQs per cent. last loan, 4 per cent.
Prime mercantile paper. 494A per cent.
Sterling exchange was firm, with actual bust
ness In bankers bills at s.S5% for demand and
us1xa4sl4 for sixty days: posted rates. A-s21a
and Sassy: commercial bills. A-So%g4SA.
silver certificates were s4aeSc; bar silver.
exxc: Mexican dollars. Soc At London lar sill
ver was BAD an ounce.
associative activity continued rather do
pressed in stocks yesterday. Business was on a
diminishing scale. and lacked even the isolated
features OF activity and strength which gave IT
character on different days last week. when the
tendency to contract dealings was already mani
fest. The opening OF Congress and presentation
NJ the Presidents message are looked TO by ira
diticns to supply motives for moving prices. but
II can hardly be said that any general influence
was exercised on prices by them yesterday. The
message was made a device by professional trad
srs to effect some movement in the steel stocks.
That Is 10 say, alarmist rum0Ts were current
before its appearance. on the stand taken on
the trust question. The stocks proved vui-
rerable 20 the bear attacks. and the decline
brought out considerable offerings OF long stock.
effecting q decline at one time in Tennessee
Coal OF A. and IN Steel and Wire OF 3A. These
were the weakest stocks. and they rallied on
short covering ia and IA. respectively. On the
other hand. Sugar was fairly ouoyant- rising at
ono time Ss. and closing with a net gain or ~
In the outside market also Standard Oil sold at
$40. leaving all previous records far behind IL.
The upward rush Of over six points In Pacific
Mai was made al the opening and prompted
by the general concurrence n the views reported
from the party leaders in Washington as to the
prominent place given by the ship subsidy bill
ia the party programme for the session There
was quite 4 large short interest uncovered in
the stock, which emphasized the rise. The SAME
was true OF Sugar. which recovered ITS Satur-
days loss with The approaching dividend meet
ing. The dividend meeting. however, was post
poned, and the stock became quiet The rail-
road list was extremely Irregular. Il x o. suf-
fered sharply on account OF legal proceedings to
enioln the payment OF the dividend on the conf
mon stock. pending the decision OF the rights OF
the preferred stock to share equally with the
common stock in dividends over Z per cent. There
were also conspicuous stocks In the railroad list
which gained sharply, including Pennsylvania.
The fact that neither the gains nor losses per-
sisted showed the professional character OF the
decline. Notwithstanding the reduced activity
there was a sharp hardening In the call money
rate 20 6 per cent. late In the day, at which
fssre IL required = million dollars to meet the
needs OF belated borrowers who had held out
for better terms.
The absorption of bonds continued large and
important. and prices were generally higher.
Total sales a. par value were 81. 505, 0t. United
States new fours declined 4 per cent on the
last can.
Following are the days share sales and the
closing bid prices.