The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-04-28
) hs1EkDAY,s ST0CK MARKET
Forced Liquidation at Time When De.
mand Was Almost ParaLyzed.

mand Was Almost ParaIyzed.
New York, April 27.-Forced liquida-
ton was thrown upon the market to-
day at time when the demand was
almost paralyzed. The bear element
showed itself, moreover, alert and we'll
organized, and met with evidence Of
forced selling by a savage onslaught on
prices, which cut under the market and
added to the decentralization. The bold
ness with which the bear element oper-
ated was indicated by the violent re-
bounds between onslaughts when the
bears took hasty profits by buying to
cover shorts. 1t was the common I'M
derstanding that that most urgent liq-
uidation was for account of some of the
insurance companies.
The indiscriminate way in which
stocks We're thrown over and the VIC
lence Of the declines at which sales
were effected gave rise to disquieting
rurnors, especially regarding the posi-
ton Of some of the insurance companies
as a result Of enormous losses suffered
in San Francisco. There was nothing
which came to light to-day to warrant
the vague rumors which were set afloat
by the action Of the market. 1t was re-
ported during the day that several Of
the insurance companies had secured
accommodation in large time loans run
ming In the aggregate to between 81
100000 and $5,00O,O0O for nine months.
The rate Of interest payable on these
loans was said to be per cent. This
indication Of the tightness Of the money
market and the accepted prospect Of its
continuance was an unfavorable factor
In the situation. But the fact that the
insurance companies were protected by
such accommodation 1t was hoped would
avail or defer liquidation of holdings Of
securities.
The fact that such an arrangement
means a postponement rather than
avoidance of liquidation serves to dis
courage speculative confidence In flu
ture advance in prices which such
burden hanging over the market to take
advantage Of any effective demand for
securities. Further large engagements
OF gold for import were secured in Par
is to-day, the aggregate for the day
reaching $6,0O0,000 This was contrast
ed with $1,500,0O0, the amount of the
days transfers to San Francisco
through the sub-treasury.
The speculative account on the long
side of the market proved much heav-
Ter than there has been any suspicion
OF, and the wiping out Of margins and
the uncovering of stop-loss orders
brought a flood of sales orders from all
quarters. The western speculative CEN
tiers figured very largely in this class Of
selling, and the markee was not free
from rumors of threatened casualties in
the speculative field Of operation. No
news regarding any of the properties
whose stocks were most affected ac-
companied the break. The Hill stocks
and the Northwestern Pacifics were the
largest sufferers, and Reading, New
York Central and some Of the highly
speculative industrials also fell abrupt
ly. The break of rs points in Great
Northern preferred measured the max
imum, but the Chicago and Northwest
ern stocks, Northern Pacific, Chicago
and st. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha
Colorado Fuel and Anaconda offered
examples of 8 to Is points decline. In
the general list losses of to points
were fairly general.
The weakness in stocks continued
throughout the day the successive sell
ing movements at new low levels, inter-
spersed with occasional rallies on short
covering. The closing tone was weak,
although mixed with some of these
spasmodic rallies.
Bonds were weak. Total sales, par
value $2,6s5,00O.
United States bonds were unchanged
on call.