The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-19
WALL STREET REVIEW
SOME SHOW OF STRENGTH DUR.
 INC THE MORNING.
It Dwindled Later, However, and the Market Generally Turned Down.
 ward-Disinclination to Trade E ' in Prominent Stocks.

NEW YORK, Feb t6.--The restrictive fnfIu-
 wss fpea S. ne trading Of yesterdays storm
 was only about half a million shares. There
 was some show of strength during the morn
 ing hours, but 1t dwindled during the day
 and the market generally turned downward.
 Some stocks which had the average. of early
 advances did not suffer materially on the gay.
 but the general level of prices at the end
 lower than yesterday. The disinclination to
 trade in stocks of the greater railroad sys ems.
 especially those of the trans-contineniai gloup,
 was very marked. It might have been due
 to the efforts making for a revision of trans
 continental freight rates or it might be ex-
 plained by the growing inclination to await
 next Mondays session of the Supreme Court
 and possible decision in, the Northern Securi-
 commitments in this group of stocks which
 have so much at stake In the decision of that
 case Speculative opinion is in a perplexed
 state as to the merits of the Me;ropolitan
 Street Railway plan. The machinery of the
 plan is so complicated and the bearings of its
 operation so obscure that little can be made
 of 1t and the general public is inclined to look askance at the securities sinvolved. The in terest of insiders in supporting the price of the stock pending the completion of the plan fs obvious: but the price ran on more than a point in the late dealings today. This had .
 deterrent @ influence on speculation elsewhere. gamatd Copper which lost o% on the day . dealings The futility of the efforts to ad- tional influences in the same direction. The development of new points of activity among the stocks seldom active of little general i'm | stocks of the same class recently advanced l secure from profit taking. Buying to some ef- | feet in the coalers. which was especially con- l spicuous in Reading second preferred and in New York. Ontario and Western. Lacka- wanna made a spurt of points. put reacted 4. Profitable demands upon the coal compa- | nies are said to be more than they can sup. | ply and there are surmises also of proposed l further consolidation of the ownership of these | roads. Another group which was active and | strong was the Southwesterns in spite of de- | creases in gross earnings for the second week in February represented by sixteen members of | the group Conjectures gre rife of plans look | ing to- financial consolidation in this group also. The strength in the group gave way | with the decline in the rest of the market. Wide gains were made by a number of ex- tremely inactive stocks. the last previous sal of which were many months old in eome cases. The money market remained easy. but cnnh- | dnce its future Is not fully assured. Ster- ling exchange advanced fraction here today and fell fraction at Paris. The margin against profits in gold exports to Paris is very narrow and both these movements tended to- ward wiping out the margin. The hrmness | of the money. markets is an additional factor. | This makes it possible that engagements of | gold for export on Thursday will be made to- morrow. The growing dulness and heaviness 1 in the market was due in part to this devel- opnient.. The closing was irregular. but there were only slight rallies.
 Wabash debenture B's constituted the bulk of the bond market but they lost practically all of their gairs. Total sales (par value,, Ss 200 ooo United States bonds were all unchanged on the last call