The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-17
GOSSIP OF WALL STREET.


asserted that as a thunderstorm clears the
atmosphere. a violent break would have
a salutary effect upon the stock market.
The failure Of prices to rally. even moderately.
toward the latter end of the week. when
technical conditions seemed to favor re-
covery. was a matter of much mlsgiving
comment, Thers have been now ten days
OF an uninterrupted decline. The Field
Oliver crowds operations for the advance
eliminated week ago last Wednesday.
and the bear party has been in control of the
room situation ever since. There was hope
of belated rally in the short session yester-
day. and when that was disappointed the
tension in the board room increased per-
ceptibly.
Traders who felt like buying stocks yester-
day for a turn we're restrained by various
indications of lower opening on Monday.
II frequently happens that oversod
market rallies on poor bank statensht,
traders who have discounted it being in
haste to secure profits. just selling for
speculative profits sometimes causes an over
bought market to react on a good bank state
ment. Instead of covering short stocks on
the appearance of a rather poor bank state
nent yesterday bear operators only renewed
the selling pressure. 1t was in the last half
hour OF trading that ST Paul made "a new
low point for this movement at 1872.
The ST. Paul crowd was at high tension
throughout the session. That stock was re-
garded as the pivotal point of the market,
and its movements were scanned with en-
IRENE care for that reason. In the early
| trading there was n good deal of short cover
| ing. but the later selling looked better than
| the buying. Oliver sold a block OF stock
| that was said to have been bought at several
points higher. Wormser tried to bid the
price up on loO-share lots at the opening
| and failed Wolf Bros. We're heavy sellers
! on the decline.
| The bear yells. said the floor member of
| large commission house, ARE sckening to
| bull. You'd think to listen to them that
| the market was falling to pieces | believe
there are less than twenty bulls in the whole
ROOM l have never known the room crowd
! to be right In any unanimous opinion.
1t is question how largely the floating
! supply Of stocks has been increased by pro-
! fessonal operations for the decline. 1t will
| probably remain matter of conjecture and
| contention until something occurs to start
an active covering movement. An observant
member points out that the room traders
have been selling imaginary stocks to each
other on steadily declining quotations a
kind of spiral speculation that moves smoothly
us long as the market continues TO revolve
in the downward grooves. When the motion
is reversed the last sellers will stand the
brunt OF the advance. Some observers say
there has been quiet absorption Of stocks
| on scale orders without. however, any APP
| parent effort to support prices.
! In the loan crowd yesterday the impression
| was that the short interest had been ma
| terially increased since Thursday. There
was n more active borrowing demand for
| oto asnerinlly Canadian Pacific ppnnSyl-
vania. St Paul. Brooklyn Rapid Transit,
Atchison and Southern Pacific. The inquiry
| for Canadian Pacific was so urgent that the
| stock loaned fiat The average rate for
| other stocks was "a per cent. Southern
Pacific was heavily borrowed The abb
| normal interest in Canadian Pacific Is thought
! to be largely the result Of arbitrage opera
| tons.
Foreign houses have been selling New ork
| Central rather freely. There is believed
to be n large professional short interest in
| the stock.
! The Wall Street farmer" is around. hav-
! ing appeared simultaneously with the Hcssian
| hy He is most convincing az you meet him
| in New Street personally observing the effect :
| OF draught upon human grain and Offering
| himself as a subject of experiments in moist
| ure But he is not peculiar to New Street,
| he is everywhere and his agricultural lore
| is inexhaustible.
| The heavy selling OF Brooklyn Rapid Tran
| sit, estimated at about $1,000 shares. by Van
| Enburgh & Atterbury last week caused
| considerable comment. none of which was
| at all Illuminating. The market position of
| the stock has been supposed to be very strong,
| the impression prevailing that the hoating
| supply had been reduced to II minimum.
! ~, Ii,,idotiop ir II was li0udatiOnJ of as
! much us 49, 900 shures through one house
| occasionetl, therefore, some surprise. Van
| Emburgh 4 Atterbury were still putting
out stock yesterday. and Bissell was also
! a seller Brokers who have frequently repre-
| scented important inside interests watched
| last weeks selling very closely. but made no
attempt to resist 1t. Put privileges on tn"
stock at Gs are being sold by house whose
information on Brooklyn Rapid Transit
affairs is exclusive. The selling before men
toned seemed to be rather well taken on the
| whole There appears to have developed
a considerable short interest The borrow
| ing demand for the stock in the loan crowd
Yesterday was conspicuous.
| On leaving the floor to go to luncheon tn"
| other day II two-dollar man, disguised at
! having hnd not n single commission since
the opening. said jokinGly to the group of
| members with whom he had been talking,
| III you get n bid for my seat while I'm gone
| let il go" That started a discussion about
| the way the price Of memberships has been
! holding up Seats are selling higher to-day
! than they sold during the great bull market
| They have been advancing while everything
| else was going down. and are now at the
| top. notwithstanding the pessimism OF brokers
| and traders generally. There are some
! wall Street people who feel bearish on Stock
| TX change memberships and insist that they
| will have to decline unless speculation picks
| m forthwith There Is much that could be
| said. however. the other side, There
nre more stocks and more people to buy ana
sell them than before, and the number OF
| both stocks and people must, in the order OF
| things, go on increasing. Perhaps the only
! hing in Wall Street that does not increase
| and cannot il the mem bership OF the New
| York Stock Exchange. That Is limited to
| ioo Ten years ago a market OF from 3o'-
| mn 10 500 900 shares day was marvel oil
| activity. To-day the room crowd alone
| ia capable of doing nearly that much Al
| though the number of brokers has not been
incrcasiAg. the ideas OF the /, loD have grown
| fast enough
| A broker who has been spending "A good
| daa, ~ hjs time in Union Pacific and Atkinson
| avs there has been quiet absorption oil po''i
ri ocks, apparently for very stronG interests
| on scale orders.