New-York tribune., 1908-06-03
FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
STOCKS CLOSE STRONG.
Union Pacific and Reading 1ct'oe
Leaders-Foreign Exchange
Declines.

In III. first hour of trading in yesterdays stock
market further material Improvement was re-
corded throughout the list Of active Issues on
the heaviest volume of business reported for any
,o-rorno,,6ins period in many months. Cams OF
from to . points were common. but the move
rnent soon attracted realizing sales trdt "ele
effective in cutting off much or the lhllidl iI9e
though in the last fifteen minutes of business re-
moved strength developed result OF opera
,io,s l,,- the shorts It rumored at the
oneninc that Union Pacific would be soou
purchase it's April earnings, allo the iac' ''i
street gossip based inside information lHli-
mated the companys net return 1or tile 'll"'''i'
would make a most encouraging showing nalur-
al1,. induced higher bids for the stock when at
one time sold as high as $50. as compared WIN
its hest price of the year OF l5l q. maze III 'iS
Nav market. The company s earnings pun
lished after the noon hour, showed relatively
small falling off in gross and an increase III net
laroor than the decrease in the first named item,
but Southern Pacific presented a Tar less iaNol
able exhibit. indeed. a distinctly pdd le'uli'
gross declining s1.31S.129 and net S33l.3'o Chloh
Pacific closed at q net gain of points, Readlhs
at A gain of Il and Missouri Pacific at gam
of 81. while elsewhere in the active list last
quotations as a rule showed only fractional III =
craaees There was some selling on the an
r,o,lnceInent of cut in the price or steer pars
hut in most quarters of the Street the action OF
the United States Steel Corporation in dropping
its -.stand-pat policy when general trade con-
ditfors did not warrant such a policy was IA
xorablv received and predictions were made tha1
rho reduction in price would be more than OFFSET
bv an increase in orders The government
bullish report on cotton was not a factof III Iie
DAVIS dealings in stocks. Business again was
poorlv distributed. ten stocks supplying about
two thirds of the total business and Reading
and Union Pacific more than one-hah
The demand for pig iron is increasing at "A
rate which encourages the belief of material
change for the better in the steel trade and an
enlarged volume of railway traffic The resump-
tion by MANY recently idle mills IN the Ne"
England states. the improvement noted IN me
conner market the return to work of thousands
of men in various parts Of the West, and the
generally favorable position of the crops are
restoring confidence in investment circles ana
increasing the demand for long term bonds OF
railroad companies. Long term bonds are sue
c,cding short term notes. This is one OF the
hest indications OF the return of normal times
in the financial and business world. and II has
moi played an uuimportant part i'm the appr"cIa-
tjon that has taken place in securities values
There has been break in business stagnaton
Inn, il need not he assumed that the country
viii at once return 10 the prosperous Ia SIS
that prevailed before overspeCulstion, the meth
ods of high finance and strained cre0i1 upset
the finances and Industries Of the nation busl-
ness mon who have the best interests OF buSl-
ness at heart do not desire All industrial boom
AT this period preferring gradual Improvement
which they believe will bring about an INDUSTRIAL
situation of permanent heavy profits 1here Is
,ll,lc of opinion IN N3ll Sll@Ct CItlFS
,,er the ability of the big speCulatIV" interests
to carry securities prices at present To mate
RALLY higher levels, but il is quite evident the
reople who were responsible for the great I'M
nroyenent that was recorded in values in May
will continue their efforts 10 place the market
1lpon a higher plane, irrespective of the TACT
that the difference between current quotations
and those prevailing in the early spring more
than measures the changed position of general
trade and more than discounts the return or
normal conditions Prices are higher than they
were before the October panic, ana IN many or
the leading issues the present range Is above
that recorded q year ago. The so-called 3arri-
man Standard Oil party, however, apparently
believes that with its vast financial resources it
will be able TO push the market still higher and
that the public will take its stocks from 10 to
20 points above ruling figures
In well informed financial quarters IL is un-
derstood the Secretary of the Treasury soon will
make another call upon depository institutions
for at least s50000.000 government money. The
banks can afford to lose this amount OF money
and they also afford to make further ship
n,ents OF gold to Europe, but the two operations
togethe with active speculation in stocks and a
hetter demand for accommod odatiOn from mer-
camille sources, will bring about higher rates in
the loan markell development which will be
welcomed by lenders who for many weeks have
been receiving Improbable prices for their
funds No stringency is looked FOR in the fall,
as in the event of rapid depletion of reserves,
y, hich generally takes place in the autumn the
hanks can fall back the emergency currency
for sddit ional banknote circulation.