The Washington herald., 1907-04-20
MARKET Is LISTLESS
Liquidation Believed to Be
About at an End.
BUDGET HAS LITTLE EFFECT
London stock Exchange Not Greatly
Affected, Although Chancellor's
Figures Are Wen Received in
other Foreign Financial Circles.
Price Of Grain Advances Again.

New York. April 19.-Transactions in
the stocks to-day were only sufficiently
larger than they were yesterday to al
low the excess to be noted, while the
movement OF prices was IN an even more
narrow range than was the case at the
preceding stock exchange session. The
general frmness of the market was, how
ever. no less pronounced. and the course
of values indicated in many ways that
liquidation in the market had been pretty
Wen completed
There was to-day even a falling off in
speculation by the stock exchange room
traders, whose daily occupation it is to
buy and sell stocks for small profits.
Many of these traders wholly absented
themselves from the floor of the stock
exchange, and, as commission house ISL
ness was still small. the days market as
a whole was extremely featureless and
uninteresting.
The London "arbitrage" dealers early
abandoned the market in disgust, as
changes in prices were so uifiing as
to make transactions based on differ
ence in quotations between the two mar
kets impossible. and the London and for
eign markets to-day were almost as inert
as our own
The annual budget of the English chan
cellor OF the exehequer presented in Par
lament yesterday, while well received in
foreign financial circles to-day. did not
contribute to any particular exhiliration
on the London stock exchange, inasmuch
as the invertment market there Is con-
fronted at the moment by an issue of
large new loans by the London county
council and by the German government
There was, naturally on the London eX-
change to-day more or less selling Of
Cousols by investors who wished TO use
their money in these two new offerings,
particularly the one first mentioned. At
the same time money rates showed "a con-
tiuually easing tendency in London,
heightening expectation that in two or
three weeks. at the latest, another reduc-
ton viii be made in the Bank of England 5
discount rate.
Gcrman Rate Nay lie Reduced.
As money rates are also declining In
France and Germany. no less than IN
England, il was considered to-day as ex-
tremely probable that reduction in the
German Banks discount rate viii be an
rounced next week. The rate of the Ger
man Bank stands, of course. at "a high
figure as compared with that of the Bank
of England
All the copper stocks I'm London to-day
were especially strong, and the market for
copper metal there again advanced. It is
becoming more and more plain that spec
ulative sales for the decline were chiefly
responsible for the recent fan in the price
of copper options in London. and that the
consumption of the metal abroad, as well
as In our own country, is in no whit
abated As it is, whatever disparity be-
tween the price of copper in London and
that in our own market has pretty nearly
entirely disappeared, leading to "a subsi-
dence of talk about importing foreign cop
per here for tho purpose of refining and
reselling at the prices quoted by the lead
ing copper producing interests on this
side
There were only two developments of in.
terest to-day in a stock market sense,
and these excited hardly ripple of at
teuti0n in the Wall street district. One
of these was the publication of the usual
Friday afternoon compilation of prelimi-
nary data regarding to-MorrOw'S bank
statement showing an increase in cash
held by the banks of between s.. 500. COO and
S39CJ 0J0- Bankers here united in saying
that although there has been more or less
shipment OF money to the West in the re-
cent past owing to the less satisfactory
rate offered here for the use of funds
Western institutions that were dissatisfied
with this rate, have in by far the greater
part merely called their loans here leav-
ing the actual money belonging to the
West stiil on deposit with their local cor
respondents.
Money Rates Unchanged.
The price Of sterling here to-day was
quoted firmer. but money rates re-
rnained practically unchanged. and so far
as the money situation is concerned it is
the actual money rates themselves, and
not misleading analysis drawn from the
figures of the weekly bank statement
that are worth reckoning upon by any ont
in forming views as TO the prospective
state of the money market
II is, however worth while bearing in
mind that the Secretary Of the Treasury
is still continuing his policy of depositing
customs receipts currently in the IA.
tional banks. In addition to the galr
made by the national banks up to the
opening of business this morning from
the subtreasury, they gained further dur
ing the day from the same source nearly
81 500 900.
A purely secondary market influence to
day was the fact that prices in the grair
market advanced a little upon the receipt
of another batch Of unfavorable, oF wha
was alleged to be unfavOrable. news re
garding the wheat crop. What wa:
haTped on to-day in this regard was tn,
cold weather in the West although II Is
very well known that cold weather a
this time of the year is by no means Sc
verely prejudicial TO winter wheat, an,
that such low temperatures as have beer
lately experienced have been undoubted
ly helpful to the crop in preventing the
development Of the insect pest from whicl
the growing grain in the southern portiol
of the winter wheat belt has undoubtedly
suffered TO more or less extent.
The damage from the green bug has s,
far. apparently. been greatest in TN
State of Texas, But of how little imDOr
t0nce this IS may be understood from tn
fact that the winter wheat crop in IN
State of Texas last year only amountei
to 10000, 600 bushels.