The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-05-17

It was one of the duIlest days of the year in the stock market yesterday and also the business done was the small est. :.
 There was a depressed feeling abroad and foreign operators indicated desire to reduce their commitments.
 Attention was switched off to the yacht race, the market being So dull, and bets were made of to and i to 4 on the Atlantic against the field.
 St. Paul had an upward spurt in the afternoon and then slid back little, but the strength in St. Paul started up the rest of the active stocks.
 Amalgamated acted as if it wanted to go up, but was afraid to start.
 The marking ubof Consolidated Gas and Peoples Gas was considered noth- ing more than a move against the shorts, a considerable amount of which had been outstanding for some time
 The London market was relatively as small as New York's. The transactions were not above 15,000 shares, with sales of nearly that amount. All of our stocks were lower on the German inci- dent. Reports from St. Petersburg of a possible battle soon also made opera tors abroad wary of committing them- selves.
 The continued weakness of Steel and it's failure to hold it's advance with the supply of stock offered at 99 on all ral- lies continues one of the unfavorable features of the speculative situation No apparent effort is being made to support the preferred, although, as it is offered down, the buying is said to be good. A short interest is accumu- lating in it as well as in the common, and a sharp upturn is looked for some day.
 A 31a-point setback in Northern Pa cific was regarded as Indicating a con- tinuation of the tactics of the insiders to work off" their holdings at the present attractive prices. It is only few days since this stock sold at IFS. A rise of IS points gives a good basis for beginning to take profits again.
 The trading in Union Pacific attract ed a large number of traders without producing much change in prices.
 Yesterdays business on the stock ex- change was the dullest of the year, sales totalling 100000 shares the small est of any full day since December, last year, when the total sales were 2S9,090 shares Of yesterdays business fully one-half was done in the first hours trading.
 The market had also to contend with the influence of an advance of over 3 cents in corn, which was reflex of the great delay in planting arising out of heavy rains in an extended area of the corn belt. The weekly government crop report laid stress upon this particular point, and was unfavorable in some other respects. Although spring wheat was doing well in the southern portion of the region, growth in the northern section has been slow, with damage by frost. In the central and eastern sec tions of the cotton belt satisfactory conditions prevail, but elsewhere much planting remains to be done, and boll' weevils and other pests are attacking the crop in localities.
 Reports of damage to winter wheat by rust and insects, while principally confined to the southern portion of the wheat belt, are more numerous than in the previous week, but the crop as a whole continues in promising condition and has made satisfactory advance during the week. Wheat is now head ing as far north as central Kansas and Missouri and the southern portions of Illinois and Indiana.