The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-15
A SLIGHT ADVANCE
Cotton Gets Beyond
Twelve and a Half.
There Were Very Few Bales Sold
Here Yesterday But the Price
Paid Showed a Strong
Undert0ne.

There was a slight advance in cotton
here yesterday over the price at which it
sold on Saturday.
The day, however, was a dull and slug
gish one, for on thirty-nine bales were
marketed here. The prices ranged from
II to 70 9-16 cents a pound, the average
rate being 1914 cents a pound. A year
ago forty-six bales were sold here at from
s to SIS cents pound.
The general undertone of the market
! is strong and there does not seem to be
| the possibility of a fall of any perceptible
| Importance in the market before the
| holidays. During this week very little
change is to be looked for in the price
of cotton, and if any tendency is to be
noted it is that this seems to be an up
ward one.
There is of course, doubt in many quart
ers as to what will be the exact crop fig
ures for this season. The bulls are push
ing prices up as they believe the crop to
be small one, a contingency which the
manufacturers seem to think should be
met by curtailment The bears, after the
clash of few days ago. seem to have
lost heart, and no matter how much they
think that the crop will be a Big one, they
do not seem able to affect the market.
Here is what j. H. Parker e ComDan".
of New York, have to say of the present
outlook, given in their letter of the
eleventh of this month
"The great bulk Of the trade was in
clined to the belief that. after the first
furry nthe publication of the sensation
H.. II
follow and that the market would find
a new basis very much below that so sud-
denly established. Even the further ad-
vance scored the day after the bureau
failed to shake this conviction, and when
prices started to ease off, as the natural
result of enormous profit taking, the
market was vigorously attacked by the
same element which. at successive points
on the rise, sold short. feeling for the
top, only to be forced out every time by
another move upward. Between the liqui
dation of longs and the hammering by
bears a reaction OF between so and so
points was forced, and, on the decline.
large lines of new short cotton were put
cut. On the upward whirl, practically
all the shorts had been eliminated, and
this new short interest was just what the
market lacked to give it stability.
ct was easy enough to get futures
down under pressure, but the holders of
spot cotton paid no attention to the spec
ulative markets, and when spinners tried
to buy spot cotton at something equal
to the decline in futures, they found there
was nothing for sale. AS if by unanimous
motion, holders absolutely withdrew from
the market. The result was that, for sew
eral days, there was practically no spot
| business put through.
Liverpool repeatedly tried to stampede
| the longs by declining where an advance
was expected, but again nd again Ameri-
can markets ignored this bearish tendency
and on each occasion, Liverpool was forced
TO promptly recover the ground lost. 1t
cannot be said yet that spot business has
resumed normal conditions. but if there
| is any advantage in the contest, it clearly
lies with the armer and merchant and
not with the exporter
ut would seem that the same situation
which existed throughout October and
| November is to be duplicated in Deem
Der. Exporters during the summer and
early fall sold heavily for December ship
ment. Now they must get the cotton to
/ fill these contracts. 1t is not a question
of price when it comes to carrying out
1 contract. Inc COJlOn must DC lOuHu dnu
secured, no matter what it may cost;
otherwise the defaulting party must go
to the wall.
"In altogether too many cases the pace
, has been too rapid, and quite a number
of interior buyers, who sold short to ex-
porters and spinners, have laid down, be-
| ing unable to deliver what they had con-
tracted for. Most of those, however, who
sold for forward shipment are hedged
with futures, and to them it makes little
difference what price they pay for the
spots, so long as they can get an equiva-
lent advance on their hedges. No argu-
ment is necessary to show what a strong
position this is for the spot holder. 1t
certainly looks as if he would succeed in
getting what he wants for his cotton,
which, of course, means that still higher
prices are ahead of us.
The week ends with prices only 90 to
So points under the highest reached in
this phenomenal season.