The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-19
STOCK TRADING
 AGAIN EXPANDS Some Movements We're Excited
 and Sensational READING WAS PROMINENT Lack of News for Movement Helped to Beget Distrust and Fears for
 Maintenance of the
 Price Level.
READING WAS PROMINENT

lNew York, January 1S.-The volume of Ehe stock market expanded again today hnd some of the movements were excited Rnd sensational but activity was even more congested than the recent tendency an that direction and the general level bf prices was not much more benefited than yesterday. In o-her words 1t was flear that the effort was made to take Advantage of the stimulating effect of Excited advances to sell stocks in other Enuarters of the market. It might almost be said of Reading that 5000 shares was fhe normal unit of the transactions in It. eo frequent was the appearance of 5000 share lots on the tape. The total out Standing issue of Reading common stock amounts to 1,400,00V shares It Is known that a large part of these have been kaken out of the market and distributed .to different railroad companies to insure the balance of control of this property, although the controlling interest is be- 1ieved to depend more on preferreo stock holdings than on common.
 But Reading has often given evidence pt the large reduction of it's floating supply. Sales for a single day of 5lSlOO shares which was the total reached to- day, may be safely assumed to represent a large proportion of matched orders and manipulative transactions Probably the manifest character of the operations accounted for their lack of effective m fluence on the general list. The entlre lack of news to account for the move ment, and the high level to which the price had already been lifted, consider ing the dividend return, helped to beget distrust for the movements and fears Tor the maintenance of the price level.
 The movement in Ontario and Western especially, and in the other coalers to a Hess degree, was supposed to be sym pathetic and was equally without expla- hation in the news of the day. The news kgas not lacking in favorable factors, but Hid not apply especially to the stocks (which moved most widely. The action ot the conservative Illinois Central directors hn declaring an extra dividend on their ktock went far to confirm the encourag- Ing effect of other recent increases in divi- hend disbursements as showing the Aonfidence of railroad managers in the future prosperity of their properties.
 The resulting revival of dividend hopes was perceptible in the movements in Baltimore and Ohio, Kansas and Texas preferred Colorado and Ontario, smelling, and perhaps in some other stocks. The announcement of the settlement of the Fall River strike was received with grati- dcation, as serving to clear up the situ- ation in one of the few industrial quar- ters which have Jagged in the trade ex- pansion.
 The absorption of two minor railroads which have been within it's sphere of in- f1uence by the New York Central, gave some early strength to that stock. The whole list gave way however with some violence during the last hour, when the suspicious engendered by the character of the days trading had come to head. The falling off of upwards of s4S,oOo0O0 in the trade balance in our favor for Decem- Der, due both to increased imports and