New-York tribune., 1901-01-20
financial.
The Financial World

80 IOlIO"eu On fridays by sharp rallies
Ihursday there was a slump which was NJ.
ioilo"ed- On the contrary. the market cow
ued on its way downward. and YESTERDAY, =. S--'''-
DOWN some more. The decline for the waas -
varied from seven to ten points for a r,u1r. Has
leading stocks; and Manhattan yesterda,, "
112 at the same hour that it was 12s the
viOus Saturday.
1t was ominous Of trouble. Carnegie ma5a -
pronuneiamento. and when it became L~.-
there was a hitch in the ST. Paul deal ~ III
who were asked to sell wanted more tba, 80
who desired to buy were willing to give u -
whispered around day or two ago +hs
settlement had been reached. If it has tba
ket so far has not benefited by it. Rpt .s,-
would be no sure sign that the bargain has -
been made. Everybody wants the rra-,
down, said leading banker. on Friday vvha.
this gentleman speaks of ''everybody he ,,a,--
everybody in the financial circle in vvbio,
moves which is the highest. He added that f,.-.
wanted it down so that they could buy stocz.
This is capable of more than one internr.,,
tion. Have the big men unIoaded and are =.
sirous to buy back at a lower level prepara+o...
TO another upward movement? Or di5 ~.
market run away from them so fast that ,nar
could not, at satisfactory prices. accurnIa,, ~.
amount of stock necessary to carry tbrou,n
their plans? In this game of the giants srara-
men have to take their chances; and if the giant,
want the market down. be the reason What a,
may it is time for people not of their statur.
10 look TO their margins There seems to hav.
been some impairment of these already. f,dg4,-
by much of the selling done yesterday.
1t is curious circumstance that wbfIA ~
market was moving up most rapidly the Iosn
item in the bank statements showed actual "a
in NOyy hat If
mense increase is reported. The bank reservs.
however. are growing by the influx of money =,
this centre; and call rates during the week tend
ed lower. getting down on Friday to IL nar
cent. The surplus reserve stands at over 81
millions This is pretty big thing after the
wild speculation we have had with two-miIlion-
share days in the market. and gold expor+s
started.
The guessing as to the causes of the nearly o.
million increase in loans for the week. and the
increase of over So millions the deposits, were
many and various. The commonly accepted one
was. that it was due mainly to the ARRANGEMENTS
neCessitated by the Pennsylvania Coal purchase
and the Jersey Central purchase. This is prob
ably true; and it is also to be considered that in
these days of big trust companies the weekly
bank statement can be made TO furnish all sorts
Of surprises by operations between the trust
companies and the banks.
In the general slump of the market. one stock
distinguished itself by rushing up on the short
interest, reaching a figure which is making it a
market mystery. This is Missouri Pacific 1t
touched 50 yesterday morning. a scramble Of
shorts to buy in stock which had been called on
them Even on the subsequent decline. after
the shorts were filled. it did not go below So
Here is stock which is not dividend payer
Atchison preferred. Northern Pacific and Union
Pacifc-au dividend payers. What is in the
wind? Who could have accumulated such an
amount of Missouri Pacific as to make it sell I'D
where it is and actually rise in a falling ma--
ket? Rumor has it that the stock is practically
cOrnered. If it has been got into that state
merely for speculative purposes look out for a
slump. If il has been gathered in for purposes
OF control, We shall hear something before long,
But Just for the present. Missouri Pacific Is d j.,
market mystery.
The steel stocks were a sensation OF the week:
and yesterday the sensation was little ac-
scentuated by a sudden dip in Amalgamated
Copper, the way for which had been prepared
by three point drop in Anaconda on the Lon
don market. This was nothing. however, to the
CONSERVATION caused by the = point slump in
Federal Steel on the eve of the declaration of
; per cent dividend This occurred Tuesday.
when the stock dropped from SO to 10, just be-
fore the directors met. Next day it went TO a.;
and is now about that figure. \ remarkable
story from Chicago yesterday mOrning,-where
the Gates people are gathered-that the Federal
Steel company has purchased the Steel Wire
company. and would issue bonds to pay for the
stock. was utilised 10 make short bull turn in
the stocks of both companies. Whoever did IT
probably made couple of points on the opera
tion.
The Federal Steel directors are talking Of IN
intended bond issue as was hinted a couple OF
weeks ago; but the avowed purpose OF this is
to put up structural steel plant, and also to
reimburse the company for various outlays 1t
has made. Who is to handle these bonds-Mr.
Morgan? There is still a good deal of cloudiness
about the matter; and some people think the
with Carnegie is not unrelated 70 it, Be
this as it may. however. the feelings Of the peo-
pie who had bought Federal Steel in the con-
fdent expectation that the dividend would carry
it into the Cos, and who saw it work the other
way by sending it with run into the 4Os.-the
feelings of these people could only be connpre-
hensively described by Mr. Driggs with his line
of Il adjectives,
When the market closed yesterday, the rank
and file of the Street were in a state OF be-
wilderment. The decline far has not hurt
much. because the bull account up 10 a week or
ten days ago had been so profitable, that the
commission house customers have comfortaOis
balances to their credit What they want 10
know now is. how much farther the decline IS 70
go. because if 1t does go much farther these bar
ances will be made TO look quite sickly IN
luckily since Benner went out of the business
there is no reliable prophet handy to call upon
in these emergencies; but we can make IN
ferences from facts 1t is always ominous Whsh