The Saint Paul globe., 1900-12-05


NEW YORK, Dec "A fayorite nara
doX in Wall street is that a surprise is
! always expected in Sugar In the n1yrS,,it +
of their professional .avocation. Stock
! traders are always trying OF discount
what they expect, and the consequence
Is tn9t in Sugar they are invariably sur
Trised and disappointed. Today was no
! exception. Action on the quarterly diyi-
dend has been looked for at any time
/ for several days past, and the news
! as to what the dividend would he ha g
! varied all the way from an increase in
| the regular rate from IA to 2 per cent
! up to the "a, an extra disbursement Of
| 2 per cent. The speculation has zone on
/ was run to 1854 this morning, when tne
l1ttlmatfon was disseminated That no
| action would be taken on the dividend to.
| day. Consequently the announcement a
! little later that the directors had mat
! at the private residence of the president
! OF the company and declared a dividend
! OF only IA per cent came like a bomb
shell upon the speculative contingent.
J In their rush to save losses they t0rced
| the price down by rapid stages, meeting
no no support except from professional
/ touched 12IA in the last hour, which was
| eight full points below the highest. and
closed with a net loss of 61s The violent
! slump in this stock had a depressing in
f1uence on the whole market but the
movement elsewhere at no time an
| proached decentralization. In fact there
D6TSlStlnG he.ra
and there in the railroad list, notably the
Erie stocks, and in the low-price6. South
westerns, but these yielded their gains In
the late reaction. In the early deal
1ngS the principal weakness was shown
| by the Specfalties, and especially the steel
| stocks. The latter group showed good
| fecGVerles, and except for Tennessee Coal
| held well in the late weakness Of tho
railroad list. The pressure to sell the
! railroads grew steadily during the Latter
Part of the day, and many of them show
net lcsseS q about a point. Chicago, Bur
hngton q Quincy declined 1% The gem
eral weakness, while partly due to SYM
pathy with the violent decline in sugar
was undoubtedly based for the most part
OH anxiety as to the ability of the money
n arket to carry speculative accounts
safely over the new year. There was no
evidence that liquidation was forced TO-
! 19, gay, iut i1il there was a spirit Of caution
ment Of currency to the, Interior and the
present low level Of pension disburse-
nents, the subrreasury has already TAX
en- en- from the money market nearly S3O-
O00,Cuo since Friday. 'ToGay's transfers to
the interior, which went to New Orleans
were 0,0O0, compared with $550O00 yes
| erday. Another noticeable feature of the
situation is the Steadiness of Sterling ex-
change, in spite of the firmness Of the
local mGrey market and the notably high
ef rates in London and Berlin. The for
elgn selling of cur securities. which was
continued today to the extent of about
I9,WO Shares, is supposed to account for
lhls. The opinion is expressed by some
foreign authorities that this process has
been ca1 RED so far as to leave New York
without future power to 6raw gold from
european sources. In this connection to-
days report of a further shipment from
Australia to San Francisco of S, 600, coo
In gold has some. significance. Incoming
steamers are bringing large shipments
OF American securities. recently sold ny
foreign holders, and the increase in the
supply of stock available for lending
serves to facilitate bear operations In the
market. O--o
The bond market shared the reacLionary
tenaencyr Der y OF the stock market but wese
sales, par value 50 5G5,t00. United States
new As advanced 7s per cent on the last