The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-04-09
Eimamcrn!.
THE STOCK N1RKET

spasm of Liqu itlation Throws Ii Into a
 Condition Bordcring on DemoriiizatioIi
 New York, April s.-A Temporary con-
 striction of the money supply and the 1 clpitated spasm of liquidation this morning which threw the stock market into a condition bordering on demorali- | zation. What happened to-day in the stock market Is according to the com
 mon agreement, what Is bound to hap pen in due course of time. Neverthe- less. tke days events came as a sur
 prise. Even the most enthusiastic bull
 has agreed to the proposition that such
 rampant speculation as has been going
 on fer weeks past was bound to be fol-
 lowed by relapse of corresponding violence Only the enthusiastic bull has
 chung to the sllpposition that the re- lapse was still remote and has continu-
 ally moved forward the supposed date
 of it's occurrence in the hope that there
 was time for still another speculative
 turn. Even the wild and excited mark
 ct of last week, which was an omlnous
 symptom, left the bulls unprepared for
 to-day's developments. Tips for a rise
 in many stocks were still wildly preva- lent before the opening this morning
 and the explanation was offered that
 Thursdays furry In call loan rates
 was due to. manipulation by the bears.
 But the instant the market opened 1t
 became evident that the developments
 since Thursday had induced a wide-
 spread determination to sell stocks.
 Another palpable fact was that some
 of the most powerful operate in the
 market had already sold their holdings and taken profits during the wild ex- citement Of last week and were com pactly organized on the bear side of the
 market this morning. Pereeiving the vulnerable condition of the market, the bears fell upon the market with great fierceness and cut wide breach in prices at the first onslaught. The ex- tent of the first declines, which were made by successive drops of from to 2 1-2 points between sales invited to quick profit taking by the bears, and tho violent rallies which ensued, en- couraged the bulls to make some stand | against the reaction, hoping that the | furry was temporary and the market | to renew the advance. This | was the only period of the day when | there was any show of positive strength | and Sugar. Peoples Gas, Texas and | Pacific and a number of less important | stocks were marked up sharply over last Thursdays level. But the strength | was shor. lived and after the demand l from the bears had been satisfied many | of the banks began calling loans. This brough fresh supply of liquidation on the market and invited fresh attack by the bears The selling became precipi- late as the falling in prices wiped out margins and uncovered stop loss or lers and the unlucky bulls jettisoned great bales of stock in the hope of sav- ng other holdings from shipWreck. The ,nly important demand at any time anne from the shorts and the occasion- Il spasmodc rallies were not held in thy case. This was true of the last IS Of former rallies and although prices lad not fallen back to the lowest all round they were again on the down grade in most cases and the closing vas irregular and only slightly above he lowest. The fall reached an ex- ren1e 8A in Rock Island, 61s in Della tare and Hudson, o1a in Amalgamated Copper, 71a in Colorado Fuel pref, and rom 2 to points in practically all of he active stocks in the list. The { rangers, Pacif1cs,. Southwesterns, outherns, coalers, trunk lines and high rice specialties were most acutely af- ected Sterling exchange eased off lightly in response to the higher money ate but the conviction was not alter d that large additional sum of gold 1il be exported to meet the require nents Of the London money market in with the coming government pan. The movement of money to the lterior as disclosed by Saturdays bank tatement was unexpectedly heavy and