The Washington herald., 1908-05-03
MARKET Is VIGOROUS
Concentrated Buying Is APP
piled to a Few Stocks.
MONEY SITUATION IS GOOD
Bank Statement shows satisfactory
COndition-Exchange Gossip Busy
with Failure of Tive Firms During
Week-GeneraI Result Of Weeks
Trading Is = Uniform Rise.

New York May 2-Thers was no
change in the characteristics Of the stock
market to-day. as there were particularly
exemplihed IN the tendency OF prices
yesterday. and. indeed throughout the
entire week.
There was the same vigorous and con-
centrated buying applied to few stocks,
which served to lift quotations in gen
eral 10 the highest level yet touched on
the present movement. This continued
up to the last hour of business, when re-
alizing sales Of the sort not infrequently
witnessed on Saturday put IN their ap-
pearance. with the result of weakening
the market considerably.
But values as finally established were
still almost uniformly at net gains,' and
the strong undertone Of the market was
not sensibly diminished. The foreign
markets were dull and featureIess, and
constituted no influence IN the local trad
ing.
No Change in Sterling.
Neither was there any variation to
speak Of in money or sterling exchange
rates. nor were there any interesting de-
velopments in the days news. Stock
exchange gossip. however. still busted tt
self not a little with rumors regard
ing the liabilities OF the two firms whose
failure was announcer during the week.
one story being to the effect that the
losses entailed through the suspension OF
one Of the firms would run TO much
higher figures than had heretofore been
estimated, and this naturally did not less
en- the perturbation of the existing short
interest in the market. 1t seems also to
be current suppositioa that certain spec
ulatOTs for the decline, who made a great
deal OF money in last years fall IN prices,
have suffered severely through the ad-
vance in one or two particular stocks,
and are endeavoring to arrange their diff
fcultes by private settlements
The wheat market was again very
Strong, partially by reason Of the cover
ing operations being conducted in the
May option for the delivery of the staple
and partially because Of the continued
strength Of the foreign grain exchanges
and Of enlarged purchases Of wheat here
for export.
Bank Statement Better.
The weekly bank statement was again
a good deal better than had been looked
for in that it had not disclosed any en-
largement Of the loan account, even Of
the temporary character by reason OF
the financial transactions of the week.
incident 10 the subscriptions TO the Penn
sylvania cOmpany's large bond issue. and
to the Interb0rOugh-MetrOp Com
pany's 600 note issue. Trust com
pany loans did increase by S14,S00 600, but
bank loans actually decreased $63. 600. and
as in spite of the gold exports, the cash
held by the banks increased over $5,O00,-
TOO, the banks surplus reserve was aug
mented by nearly 100000 bringing the
total surplus up s62 352,9O0 a new high
record for the year
IL is generally admitted that the rise
in the stock market that has covered
practically the entire week has been
greatly assisted at least by an impress
sion that has become more or less widely
prevalent in the financial district that
business prospects rather than business
conditions are now the cleW TO the fnan-
cial and commercial situation.
The actual news bearing upon values of
securities this week has not been over
favorable
Business at Low Ebb,
All reports from the leading mercantile
centers have been to the effect that bust
ness was at a lower ebb than at any time
In the recent past or what is practically
the same thing that it has suffered
retrograde movement since its recovery
in the earlier months Of the year. The
best testimony on this point was. Of
course, that afforded by the statistics
gathered by the American Railway Asso-
citation, which told OF a larger number of
idle freight cars in the country on April
10 than at any time for many years back
the number having decidedly increased
since the middle Of the preceding month.
It was said that the increase wa. most
favorable in coal cars. and was directly
due to the sharp falling off In the trans
portation OF soft coal after the accumula-
tion Of the product had ceased that had
taken place in preparation for possible
labor troubles in the bituminous coal Sec
tion.