Evening star., 1900-09-21
FINANCE AND TRADE
Foreign Demand Caused a Better
Opening in Stocks.
LONG SELLING SOON FOLLOWED
Short Covering Was the Only
Strength After That.
GENERAL MARKET REPORTS
Special Dispatch TO The Evening Star.

Special Dispatch TO The Evening Star.
NEW YORK, September .f.--A slightly
higher market In London and an improved
demand from that center resulted in a tenn
porary rally during the opening hour this
morning Foreign houses are estimated to
have taken 13.OO0 shares of various stocks,
but the local demand was mostly in the in
terest OF the short account. After the de-
mand from foreign houses had been sup
piled the market reacted under renewed
pressure Of long stock.
Advices from the coal district were not
encouraging and opera tors were less SAN
guine of an early ending of the trouble.
The coal shares, however are not alone IN
the weakness occasioned by the strike
news. the support In them being better
than that given to properties having only
an indirect concern as TO the outcome
Louisville and Nashville was especially
weak during the morning. long stock be-
ing weakly held and easily forced out as
the price receded The support came al
most wholly from the short interest. The
Pacific stocks, especially Union Pacific. de-
stock. In every part of the market the
stocks dependent upon speculative pools
were most easily depressed.
There is no longer any doubt but that
these pools became overloaded during the
summer and have been Hquidating for sev-
eral days. Atchson preferred, a per cent
stock selling at GS, is one Of the victims OF
these miscalculations. The return of the
larger interests was not followed by the
expected demand. and the midsummer
hopes OF selling at a profit have given way
to desire to make the loss as small as
possible. The buying of odd lots was
something of feature at one time during
the day. indicating modest investment de-
mand
The Steel stocks were Irregular. the short
interest covering round amounts in some
of them and preventing uninterrupted
decline. The meeting OF the executive COM
mittee of Tennessee Coal and Iron early
next week will probably throw some lleht
upon the recent sharp DECLINE In those
shares. The dividend rate Is thought to be
involved in the decline. and stress is sig
nificantly laid upon the fact that no an
nuaa rate was fixed. the quarterly disburse-
ments being for the quarter then current
and without pedging the company to a
fixed policy. Similar reasoning is likely to
be heard very frequently during the pres
ent season. since there can be no doubt but
that the state of the trade will compel
economies for a time.
The question now OF supreme Importance
In speculative sense is to determine TO
what extent present prices reflect the pro-
posed changes.
The call money market was easy and less
was heard OF higher rates Bankers do not
agree On the prospects of the money mar
ket but the differences in belief are apt to
reflect the difference in the degree OF op-
timiSm as to the outcome of the elections
Politics dominate speculative sentiment Just
now, and the chances for the Immediate fu-
ture do not favor the long account. A
slight reduction in the betting odds was
used to influence prices during the after
noon. The market had better tone than
yesterday. but conservative houses advise
delay in making new purchases