The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-25
WALL STREET REVIEW
POINTS OF STRENGTH SCATTER
 ED THROUGH THE LIST.
Room Traders, Who Had the Market to Themselves Looked on This z as Part of the Christmas
 Celebration.

l.. NEW TURK, Dec. E4.-T00ay0 BtOCk mar ket showed points of strength scattered all through it. but the room traders. who had the market all to themselves. accepted this as part of the Christmas celebration, almost as much as the strains of the brass band that enlivened the proceedings on the floor of the Stock Exchange during the last hour of the session. Of the stocks which moved notably one or two were in the list of usually prominent stocks. In many cases the gains noted were in stocks that had not moved for weeks. Just why it should conduce to the gaiety of the holiday celebration to awaken these sleeping securities from a long quiet and rush them up points at a time must be left to the inscrutable minds of stock brok- CTS on a frolic. Here and there the dlspo- trrepressible. But this was frowned upon as throwing a dampening spirit upon the occa- nounced yesterday fin the Lake Shore dividend was manifest in movements of a handful of high grade stocks. some in the railroad and some in the industrial list. Rumors of pos stble dividend increases accompanied some of these advances and with others there went sug- gestions of a coming distribution of surplus known to be in the treasuries of the compa- nies There was obviously a speculative con- test in General Electric and Westinghouse Electric. the price of the latter being bid up across the former. thus making good pre- lapsins again to the low parity. In some of the more obscure stocks 1t was evident that the current disfavor of selling movements was taken advantage of to bid up the market with out opposition. The action of the cotton and wheat markets in response to the war rumors which took on an alarmist tone was not such as to suggest harmful results to American in- terests even in the event of war. Cotton sold in New York at the highest price in December since the Civil War, and the price reached by wheat was the highest for several years past Call money rates were easy in the face of the requirements to carry over until next Monday and all the indications point to a decided improvement in the condition to be shown by the banks in next Saturdays bank statement by the time trading is resumed in stocks next Monday. The movement of currency from the interior and the sub-treasury operations are estimated to have yielded upwards of three million dollars of additional reserves to the banks already since last Saturday. This is In spite of the heavy transfers to New Or leans. which have run up to e275o 900 since the last bank statement The tone of the sterling exchange market continued heavy to- day notwithstanding the reduction of upward England reserves. Discounts in London were also in line to relax somewhat surprisingly. There was an irregular reaction late in the day and the market closed irregular.
 The bond market was firm. but not very &C., tive. Total sales (par value). S2ol5.ooo.
 The approach of the Christmas holidays in Wall Street. While the market has been exceedingly dull, the effect has been to keep any selling pressure of the market and prices have been suffered to advance in a sluggish been bid up many points. without transactions and very light offerings have been brought out at any stage Of the advance. The same has been true in a moderate degree of the stock 8 active in the trading This process of filling Np the gaps in values caused by the drastic liquidation effected during the past year has been viewed with a contented spirit in the financial world where the showing to be made in annual balance sheets of the market values Of securities held will cut 90 mprrtant hgu @ and has been the occasion of some anxious cons s-derator at different times duriI the die dressing year just closing. How far active meas ures have been used in the market to hn In hka fxr,F~ But the fact that the result has come with the firm underlying condition in the present market. The incidents have attracted atten- tton to the greater facilities for investment at advantageous interest rates which have re- suited from the lower level of prices for high grade securities fin tn emarket but free employment of money in the present market is checked by the confederation. of the heavy re- quirements for railroad bond issues, which are known to overhang the money market Some of these will be for the purpose of fund ing temporary loans to railroads during the past period of stringency to carry on neces- sary work with the intention of waiting for more propitious conditions to issue long times in funded form. The official intimations of tho purpose to employ part of the proceeds of these coming bond issues in purchase of rail- road equipment has been stimulating influ- ence upon securities of corporations dealing in such equipment. Notwithstanding these qualifying considerations there exists a hope ful feeling in Wall Street that the opening of the new year will see an accumulation of reserves in New York and an improved de- mand for securities. The usual factors of un. settlement and hesitation of a national cam paign lie beyond with the added uncertainties of the industrial and business outlook and the hoped-for turn in the tide of contraction in the past year.
 Dealings in bonds have not been on A large scale for the week, but there has been a de. mand awakened for a few issues of a specula- tive class. United States 2s, 3s and old 4s have advanced F per cent. and the new As have declined per cent on call during the week.