The St. Louis Republic., 1901-01-20
A BAD WEEK FOR BULLS
IN WHEAT-c0RN FIRMER.
WHEAT BEARS HAD THINGS
THEIR OWN WAY.
Corn. on the Other Hand. Devel-
oped Strength and Gained 4
Little in Price.

| the bear1SnneSs tnat was ueNcloptu, was
more clearly defined, and although corn
held up remarkably well in the face OF some
mfavorable conditions. and showed a good
| strong undertone. IL did no more than
hold its own and showed little i'm
provement in value. Wheat on the other
hand has suffered severely. the bearish
feeling gaining ground and prices going Of
largely. Aside from the strength exhibited
late by corn and oats there were few re-
deeming features TO the general speculative
situation at this point. Snap and energy in
| speculation was not in evidence at aEy
! time IN the makeup of the different mar
kets Il lack Of outside interest being mani
tested all the way through and was one OF
the chief characteristics of the situation.
| The wheat market was pretty much all
one way the past week, and made no real
| demonstrations OF strength from the time
| II opened until 1t closed yesterday near
| the bottom prices OF the week. and away
| lower. Bearish convictions We're prominent
! at all times. and by the close bull senti-
| ment had pretty well disappeared. News
| OF all kinds was largely of bearish char
acter and sentiment and feeling. so bullish
| the last week OF Dec. 1900 leaned more
| than ever to the selling side. Specuatively
the market was in about the same condi-
| tion as last week. that is to say, outside
| interest was almost wholly lacking and the
| situation was In control OF professional
| room traders. One OF the chief weakening
| features throughout the week was the
| heavy liquidation Of long wheat not a sin
| gle day Icing allowed TO pass when large
quantities of wheat were not thrown upon
the market, and, as the absorbing powers OF
the market were limited and not capable OF
taking care OF it. there was a steady and
almost uninterrupted decline not a day
passing without something being taken OF
prices. and some Of these declines were
Wall street holders. who. It was claimed.
inaugurated the bull movement i'm this
grain which closed the Nineteenth Century
IN IN blaze OF glory and sent prices sharply
htgher, were conspicuous during the week
as sellers. and in particular late when the
hquidation was the heaviest. This gave the
Que 10 local longs and short sellers. and the
seihng on their account was so free and
neavy that prices broke away and declined
steadily. total Toss for the week of from
l.c 70 Sc being registered at the close The
ueVeiopments from the start Indicated a
bear market A weak and unsettled feeling
prevailed. and the friends OF this grain.
when anything like strength was shown,
were so few and far between as 10 make no
impression upon the situation. and the
bears most OF the time were largely in the
ascendent. The bears were pretty gensr-
ally favored by the character OF the news
circulated and especially that of a stat!sti-
cal nature For instance, the crop move
ment from country points to the Leading
markets was in excess OF that OF last year
The cables reported over s 800 90 bu shipped
W countries, En1cn was
bu. in excess of the week before and ., 4O0,-
600 bu- larger than those OF a year ago.
causing the amount afioat 10 increase 7o4 OoS
bu The visible supply Of this country was
increased leo bu. and over ON the other
hand. Brandstreet's reported a small de-
crease in the available of s7sooo bu,.. as
compared with an increase of over 400 0Sl
bu. last year. but east OF the Rockies there
was an increase of 222,0o bu. more than the
ISOLATION to be gotten out of English and
continental cables. they most OF the time
being weak and slow. At one time they
said that the Argentine was pressing her
wheat. which was Id lower and the Gov
ernment official report stated that the ex-
portable surplus was 100000 bu. but The
shipments for the week from that country |
were smaller than the week before. and a |
report received later in the week placed the |
surplus at only 100000 bu. |
There was a good revival in export buy
ing late IN the week, and this had some |
sustaining effect for awhile. but the weeks |
they amounting to only 3,s3s. 900 bushels, |
against 6.sl6.000 bushels a week ago and |
3.oslc bushels year ago. AZ heretofore |
during the closing days OF the week, and |
II was so heavy that prices lost more thsa
a further decline for the day of &c to i.7 |
lsc, and for the week. stated above. The |
greatest loss was in the May option, which |
declined s1sc and closed Sc lower at f2i19 /
NC buyers. July came next with define /
OF 2ssc. closing at Tl3sc buyers. while Jan.
was nominally 1ac on at f1kc.
There was nothing In the earlier actions
OF corn TO encourage eullish sentiment or
to indicate the strength that was TO be de-
veloped later In the week, and which not |
only checked all disposition to sell, but
held prices firm and closed them a little
bit higher for the week. Speculative inter-
est. ike that shown In wheat, was not
broad or aggressive. and. IN fact, in a trad
ing way, the market was not In the least
eral was not so uniformly bearish as IL |
was in wheat and there were several sus-
tanning influences developed. The expected
falling on in the receipts did not occur.
though II was claimed from day to day
that farmers were not selling freely, yet
the daily arrivals were generally in excess
were large. and increased the amount on
ocean passage li4.0o bu., whereas a
Bradstreet's report was far from bullisS
ss where the regular visible supply IN
creased 2o2coo bu;. that authority reported
bu- increase at outside points.
Gables were dull and reported slow mar
kets abroad, and during the FIRST part Of the
ported. exporters claiming that the differ
ence in price was too much to allow them |
to make sales abroad Later however, |
there was a very decided Improvement a,
this respect and the market was excited by
large export sales here and elsewhere.
Cables were also stronger and higher the
Argentine shipments were small and other
domestic markets higher. The posting OF
the weeks clearances were encouraging as
|
against 4.sTso 900 Du. last week and 3fsspO0
bu. last year. The closing days OF the week
up TO yesterday were very strong and
higher but prices eased OF a shade yester-
day vet still left the market from i-iec to |
I.c higher for the week. Jan. closed &c |
higher at Sc nominal. May being only 1-lsc
,,p at 31I1a37Nc sellers and July nSminally
I.c better al S75sc-
Aside from the very encouraging fact !
that the local market for oats ruled Arm ali |
of the week and closed slightly higher
there were no important developments In
this grain during the week There was Lo |
speculation Of any kind to speak of and |
very little trading. so slight was the In | 1
terest taken. A steady to firm tone pre-
vailed all through the week and price |
changes were OF the smallest, and they
cIosed at a gain of &c for Jan, which |
was nominally 25l.c and Of nc for May, |
which was quoted at 25z.c asked.
The Banks.
IL: prime mercantile paper 3AGFs per cent !
Sterling exchange nominally firm, with actual
business In bankers bills at 81. sIi+ STA for de-
nnsnd and S4-s3iz for 90 days. posted rates 1
III sI<i4 s4l. and 81 -: commercial bills s4Skfs :
sell silver certificates s4isnSSisc. Mexican dol
srs 4ec State bonds inactive. Railroad bonIs
strong Experts Of gold and silver from this
bort 10 all countries for this week aggregate 81
i5 s66 silver bars and coin and 81. ss4.s12 gold.
rha Imports Of specie this week We're s1i 4ee gold
md sI4Iss silver. The imports OF dry goods and
H. - fNf - XnrL -.