Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-30
STOCK PRICES
GO DOWN
WALL STREET EXPERIENCES A
PERIOD OF IpLENEss
Preparation, for Yearly Settlements
Occupy Time of Financial In
terests in New
York
BY Associated Press.

! BY Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Dec. 29.-The down
ward drift of prices of stocks last
| week, in a market that was almost idle
at times, reflected the restraining in
fuence of the scantiness of money sup
plies and the purpose to await develop
ments in the commercial position ovel
the end of the year.
| The source of anxiety was clearly
indicated by the brisk rebound II
stocks at the end of the week, induced
! by the decisive decline in the premium
| on currency, the cancellation OF a goic
engagement in London and the infer
ences drawn from these incidents OF
clearing situation.
| Preparations for the yearly settle
ments made requirements which wouIt
give care for their provision In norma
money conditions. Beside dividend anc
interest payments for January, esti-
mated at around $1S5,000,000, there fell
due on January 1 subscription obliga'
tions for new Northern Pacific anc
New York, New Haven & Hartford
stocks, and American Telephone anc
Telegraph convertible bonds to the
amounts of nearly s30,o00,o00.
| There was good deal of calling OF
loans by the banks in preparing FOL
this financing, which acted as an ac-
|
in stocks. There was, besides the ap'
prehension that the money situation
would react unfavorably on CONNER
| cial affairs after the first of the year
Large maturities fall due at that time
| of mercantile paper based on extensive
previous purchases of merchandise oi
all varieties, for which the market has
been notoriously unfavorable In tbs
depression which ensued upon the
| banking crisis.
{ me Alarm Felt
| The market for mercantile paper ir
New York since that time has beer
scarcely more than normal. and the
prospects of the continuance of thai
condition caused anxiety over adequate
demand to provide for needed exten-
sions of some of those maturing obli-
cations.
| One of the weeks developments
which attracted most attention was the
revival of demand on the part OF the
interior banks, small in itself, but re-
garded as important as a possible
symptom of better things for mercan'
| tile paper of the best grades.
| Besides this immediate need of mer-
camille borrowers, feature of the
money market for the coming year viii
be the large volume of temporary note
| issues OF the great Tdllrodu anu iHuuS'
trial corporations which were put out
last year for emergency expenditures
after the market for ordinary bond
issues became glutted and which fall
due at various periods throughout the
coming year, to total estimated al
$119, 9,00O 900.
The banking position upon which
the conditions converge had little
thrown upon 1t last week from severa'
sources There was published the
digest of conditions of all the nationa.
banks as shown in the reports to the
comptroller of the currency as of De.
cember 8. and also reports to the New
York state banking department of con-
ditions of state banks and trust COM
panies, as of December 10. The re-
ports of the national banks of the
| country completely confirmed the in
| ference of the wholesale withdrawa
from reserve and central reserve cities
Of deposits of banks which had theil
reserves intrusted to those depositor.
les. The comptroller's digest shows
beyond this. that the smaller banks
heavily curtailed loans as well as call
| ing home their deposited reserves
while the central reserve banks in
| fringed upon their legal reserve limits
and issued clearing house certificates
to provide resources to meet the straiT
which thus threatened breakdown.