The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-04-12
STOCK MARKET FEATURES
ACTION OF UNITED STATES STEEL
 CLOSELY WATCHED.
Seemed at One Time Yesterday That Pool Was Letting off Some of It's HOldings--ShHrp Rise in Standard OiI-Trade situation Against Sup port in Amalgamated.

Ufl--Irnue SVuntiOn Against sup
 port fin Amalgamated,
 the action of United States Steel stocks was closely watched. While they were apparently well taken dur ing most of the morning, they were freely offered at midday and early in the afternoon shared in the general pressure. It looked at that time as if the pool was letting off some of it's holdings. Advices from various steel centers were reassuring, and showed no appreciable falling off in demand. Even the consumption of pig iron was. re- garded as indicative of sustained con- sumption of finished products.
 From the action of the market it ap- peared that the good news had been discounted. The reduction in the Bank of England rate to 1-2 per cent. and the nigh average of winter wheat were of little consequence to the market yes l terday. Some expectation of higher prices between now and Monday, on prospects of good bank statement, was not fulfilled.
 The trade situation was against sup port in Amalgamated. The price of the metal was dropped down one-quarter 1 cent. It is believed that the large pro ducers are holding metal at an arbitra- ry level and that their quotations do not accurately reflect the views of con- sumers. Boston is more bullish on cop per than New York.
 London bought 10000 shares on bal ance. Union and Southern Pacific, Steel, Erie and Atchison were most in demand. The influence of the lower Bank of England discount rate was nil. Everyone had been prepared for it. There is now said to be a prospect of a 4 per cent. rate early in May.
 The market started higher, with United States Steel common the feat ure at an advance of 1-2 to S-4 points or the highest of this movement. But | the improvement was not long main- tained. Within a quarter of an hour selling pressure developed and prices continued to sag off all the morning and into the afternoon. There wag nc important news which should influence
 the market but some miner matters
 were used as pretext for selling
 stocks.
 ! A further sharp rise in Standord Oi
 to 564 by early in the afternoon, agains
 499 on March 30-the transactions be. ing very small yesterday-was an in,
 cident that attracted much attention Some asserted that its purpose was tC help the other stocks. Such tactics have sometimes apparently been prac : ticed in the past, though quite many } times Standard Oil has gone trar! to the remainder of the mari,.t ) partial victory in the suit in westerl
 court was one reason assigned for tn,
 movement in the stock.
 The market closed with moderat } rally from the afternoons s low prices but business was very dull and trans actions were confined chiefly to the is sues which were depressed earlier. Cop l per stocks led the rally. They appear r ed to have been over-sold by specula
 tors for the decline on the news of tn } reduced bid price.
 5 The principal news was a further re g duction in the bid price of copper ol t the Metal exchange, but the offerin . prices of lake and electrolytic remaine 2 the same Castings were down 1-4 fo l both bids and offers. While Wal