The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-02-28
IN THE STOCK MARKET.
The Trading Was Quite Large, but
Very Much Congested.
CONTINUED STRENGTH IN ST. PAUL
Sugar Stocks Had Buoyant Rise, but
the General Market Did Not
Respond.

New York. February 2T.-Todny's trading
in the stock market while quite large, was
very much congcstcd. There was con
tlnued strength In st. Paul and later
buoyant rise In Sugar and notable gains
by some Of the less prominent priced in
dustrIals but the general market was not
much inclined to respond in sympathy, al
though the depression which existed In
some parts of the room early In the day
was partly relieved The speculative tone
was more inclined to sympathize with the
continued heavlncss of steel stocks than
with the strong features of the market
The inclination of the steel stocks to grav,
tntc to lower level rs distinct uisap.
pointncnt to the speculative world. ana
II was hoped that when the doubts ana
uncertainties attending the period of nego-
tiations were cleared up and the gre at
consolidation of control July assured
prices of the securities would reflect the
hopcd-for advances to the owners OF the
properties. There was large trading again
in the stocks of the group todai, bur 1T
was In large part on arbitrage operations
from one stock to another The discrep'
ancy in the prices OF the stocks and their
privileges of conversion into the stock Of
the United States steel Corporation forms
the basis OF those operations, They con
sist In the purchase of such members of
the group MS are proportlonatcly low an
the simultaneous sale against these pur-
CnhSCs OF STOCKS, WDlcn are higher. Inc
natural tendency of these operations is to
bring the prices Of the various stocks to a
basis consistent with their relative claims
for the new stocks. 1t was quite evident
serving to bring down the prices of those
stocks selling too high. rather than to
bring up the prices of those which was rel
atively low That is to say. most mem
hers Of the group showed declines on the
day, which extended to ~ in National
Tube: in Tin Plate and point each in
the National steel stock and National steel
preferred. Steel and Wire preferred, nearly
a point net, and American oop and I'm
preferred, small fractions
For the purpose Of accommodating these
arbitrage operators, there were also deal.
inGs on the curb In contracts 10 deliver
when issued the new United States Steel
Corporation stock. The common stock de
manded 4Ola Mt one time this morning and
the preferred SAY, but before the close
the quotations for the common stock had
recedcd to below IS and for the preferred
about 81. The transactions amounted to
only few thousand shares, but the quota
tions were accepted on the stock exchange
as basis of operations These Scculi-
ties are expected to be listed ultimately
on the stock exchange, but Ii Is not un-
usual that securities so transferred from
the curb to the exchange sell lower after
the change An example is the new Union
Pacific convertible per cent bonds is.
sued to provide for the Southern Pacific
purchases which sold in the unlisted de-,
partment of the exchange for the first time
today over : points below the recent out
side quotation.
The strength of St Paul today was ac
companiod by assertions that the dividend
VIII certainly he increased at the ap
proachlng meeting.
The movement of Sugar was attributed to
reports that the import duty on ;'mbn rav
sugar Is to be rcmittcd. The money mar.
ket continued easy today, Notwithstanding
me large absorption by the suhtrcasury on
account of the customs payments.
me borrowers indulge the hope that
some Of the recent large loans incident TO
me ral!'ay transactions will shortly he
now securities. Vi
railroad bonds became somewhat irrer.
ul1r on fair volume of dealings Total
sales par value, $2,S650OO.