Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-15
COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL
Feverish Performance on Grain Stage, with
Corn Leading Actor.
MUCH GUESSwORK BY SPEcULATORS
Prices Take squirt in EARLY Market
but Ease on Later, Corn and oats
Closing with Gain, but
wheat Lower.

CHICAGO, April 1A-Speculators in
grains had a feverish time Of 1t today.
Corn shorts we're badly scared over the
kets, and fearing possible manipulation of
:he market by bulls in its present pec9naI
condition. bid prices up g.; Wheat h 5oi,o an
the corn lead and jumped 1c. All pits ex-
perienced marked activity and prices nuc-
ment conditions became somewhat normal
and May wheat closed Ac lower, May corn
sc higher and May oats Nc up. provisions
closed a shade lower to DC higher.
Shorts in the corn pit were the cause OF
the panicky actions In grains. AZ the start
there was an inclination to sell stun oee !,
took only a few spurts Of the st. Louis
market, however. to create 2 strong 1e-
mand by the unfortunate early sellers. Inc
naturally bullish situation In the corn trade
with continued reports of depletons OF
stocks at all prominent centers and an I'M
May corn started &c higher TO nc owe at
61ssd61Sc and jumped to 6319c. This was
an advance Of about &C over the low price
ON the decline OF a week or ten days ago
and of almost &c Saturday morning. st.
Louis was buying here, supposedly TO finish
the covering the big short line began Sat
urday. Offerings were not enough to sup
ply the demand Trade was guesswork all
around. After the early advance there was
Liquidation at top prices brought good
profits. There was a good demand for
cash articles. which, together with strong
cables, helped in putting a bullish inter-
pretation on every bit Of news. Traders
In all pits were talking of ms remarkable
outlook for speculation and manipulation
in corn. News continues to arrive of farm
ers proceeding with seeding. The visible
supply decreased 100000 bu.-now 10000
bu.. against %. 100000 bu. a year ago. The
country traders Saturday must have corn,
and there is little of that. After the adj
vance May corn sold OFF to 61tc, but raj,
lied again and closed strong, NC up, at
62hc. Receipts were only 90 cars.
Wheat started out steady on unrespon-
giya rahlQg and rama In the nnthWaqfpr
wheat country. May opened hc to hc
lower at 72%473c, but at once felt, the in
fUence of the soaring corn market. In a
very short time covering and an invest
ment demand sent May to 1850. As corn
began its decline after the opening bulge
for a leading bull professional and as the
sta1lers MED IN to sell, the market S
southwest sold here and those markets
were lower. Commission houses were on
both sides of the market, but principally
sold. Liquidation for profits was very pop
ular. The visible decrease of 1900, 600 blu.
was a little more than expected, but had
no effect. Trade was active. May closed
Local receipts were % cars, 2 Of contract
grade. Minneapolis and Duluth reported
lSS cars ar making a total for the three points
a year ago. Primary receipts were 30S, 900
bu., against 500, 600 last year. Seaboard
900 bu. The British budget today Imposing
an import duty equal to about &c a bushel
on wheat and an equivalent duty on -four
ments were S,062,0 % bu., compared to TO-
$4,000 blu. last year. On passage, bread
stuffs decreased $4,000 bu.
Trade In oats was fair and on the corn
Influence prices advanced. May and July
were bought literally by receivers. Offer
ings were small. The crowd usually in oats
devoted much of it's time to corn. The
prospect of more liberal, receipts caused
some selling. May started unchanged to
&c up at 42d421sc, sold to 43c and closed
1ac up. at i21ec. Receipts were ISL cars.
Provisions had a fair general trade.
Hogs were steady, but the demand for
products was good and packers supported
Commission houses were good buyers. The
tone was stronger all day, but realizing on
the advance produced In some of the grains.
May pork. closed &c up at 1881, May lard
a shade at S9.72h and May ribs sc
higher at $9.12ih.
Estimated receipts for tomorrow: Wheat
80 cars; corn. 6S cars; oats, 220 cars; hogs,
1000 head.
The leading futures anged as follows: