The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-24
|STOCK MARKET SAGS
UNDER PRESSURE
Expected Advance in Prices
Fails to Materialize
TONE BECOMES WEAK
sment Is Not known But the Sell
ing Is Heavy and the Close
Is Decidedly Weak

= New York. May 23.-Today's stock mar
Tket was disappointment to those who
took stocks in the latter part of last
week in the expectation that a broad
aening of demand and rise in prices were
ITO be looked for this week. The saggng
to-day of prices was directly due to selling
Ito realize by such disappointed holders,
Swhile the expected demand was. not in
evidence. The deeper cause for the
saction of the market or its lack of action,
9still remains obscure. The tone became
decidedly weak by the end of the day.
= Attention today converged on the Lon
5sdon market The decisive hardening of
e.discount rates at that center carried its
admonition to all other financial CEN
tiers. The private discout rate moved
s,up to within shade of the Bank of
England rate The direct cause of this is
sSthe collection of arrears of taxation that
Is still going forward, so that the
money market is obliged to borrow from
the Bank of England to secure resources
5for this purpose. 1t lies in the power of
1.-THE Bank of England to relieve this stu
s.ation by the purchase of British ex-
chequer bills from the market and it
was expected that this would be done in
xconnection with the tax collections.
The fact that it is not done marks the
policy of the bank authorities to con-
s.trol the money market to keep up the
rates for money and discounts and thus
to influence the international exchanges.
This 1t did effectually today, as was seen
In the quite sensational rise of 8 CEN
times in the Paris rate of exchange In
: London. In Berlin. also, London exchange
rose pfennig, and the New York price
for demand sterling rose to s4.S7.S0.
There was an attempt to create an i'm
preston that the rise in the Paris ster-
ling rate was caused by remittances to
london indirectly on the account of sub
! scriptions in Paris to American bond
issues. There was no corresponding re-
taxation in Londons pressure on New
York remittances to bear out this claim
New York exchange on Paris, however,
was lower.
The alleged progress If negotiations for
the sale of bonds to Paris bankers was
subject to discussion again with the other
assertion that official announcement was
imminent. There was also insistence on
the prospect that the old project of listing
United States Steel on the Paris bourse
was near its contamination. The stock
market was not influenced by these claims
nor by the reports of signs of revival in
the iron trade.
The sharp break in wheat prices bore
out the news of increasingly favorable
crop conditions. but allowance was made
for the difficulties of the speculative po-
sition in that market.
The evidence of liquidation there is
looked on as secondary in Importance only
to the good progress of the crop itself.
New York banks report considerable dis
counting here by outside banks. while de-
mand for mercantile paper is Indifferent.
owing to considerable recourse by mer-
chants to their own banks for accom-
mediation on the plea that collections at
this time are SLOW. These points In the
domestic money situation and the course
of the London money market influence
those with large funds to lend rather than
the apparent abundance of money to lend
on collateral and on call in the stock
market having weight. The Gould list
of railroad securities stood out rather
prominently In the prevailing heaviness of
the stock list today, but nothing was adj
vanced in explanation bearing in value
of these properties
The receivership for the Chicago city
railways following that for the Hooking
valley properties was disliked as nm evil
dence of the miscarriage of plans of lead
ing financial groups rather than for any
direct effect on the market.
Bonds were Irregular. Total sales. par
value, 81, 1884, 0O.
United States bonds were unchanged
on call. - N.r