The Washington times., 1910-05-15
on Short Covering, and the Outlook Is for Reasonable
IMPROVED CONDITIONS ARE SHOWN
IN SECURITIES IN WALL STREET
Waning Hopeful News
Crop and POpts-Bond Placements Helpful

NEW YORK, May I5-WaH Streets
business week was marked By some i'm
pr0vement n speculative sentiment.
This is another way Of saying that dur
ing the interval the stock market, taken
as a whole, gave a very good account
OF itself You could feel modification
Of opinion spreading over the financial
district. 10 did not, 20 be sure extend
90 al quarters. but the prevailing note
Of pessimism was less pronounced in
general. and the atmosphere OF broker
age Offices. which cater TO the day-tO-
day traders. was distinctly better. This,
apparently. was a manifestation of the
workings Of The familiar Wall Street
axiom Prices make sentiment; senti-
nent makes the market"
The sessions OF Monday and Tuesday
we're marked By sharp recoveries. and
though stocks turned dull on the adj
vance ana then displayed irresularity,
with occasional intervals OF heaviness,
the early Improvement was fairly Wen
sustained TO the close OF Saturdays
session. What Is more to the point-tns
bond division showed slight Increase
in activity and come Improvement III
prices. In come -tion with this, mod
crate buying by Investment Institutions,
including the Emig ant Savings Bank,
vas reported. As these institutions
have not been doing much in bonds for
a long Interval, the temperance Of one
Of the largest Of them IN the market
was REGARDED in investment circles as
favorable sign
A Professional Market.
II is quite generally admitted that
fresh outside buying had very little 10
do with the Upturn Of speculative STOCK
issues In fact leading commission
houses. and particularly such as trans
act business for wealthy clients who arc
accustomed TO buy for the long pull.
complained Of intenae dunness- They held
thar uubIfc interest In the market was
Al low ebb. and that dealings were
chiefly professional Il was the opinion
Of brokerage houses OF this charsceT.
that the price recovery in speculative
issues cvTed its inception 10 buying
orders-pIaced IN the market b. Lon
don and New York bankers for us
protection II connect on with the su1-
den death Of ling EDWARD Of England
As was indicated IN this column a
week ago. the closing OF the stock eX-
changes on Saturday week, and the
Intervention Of Sunday. served the
purpose Of calming the British investing
public and prevented hysteria, which
was the only thing 20 be feared, 50
fs- as stocks were concerned. arising
ont of the sad event in England Ehe
supporting orders were not extensive
in auv one issue. but the aggregate was
sufficient 20 influence q sharp advance
in issues which enjoy an international
market such as the Hartman Pa
cites. AtchisoiI. Pennsylvania, New
york Central. Amalgamated Copper,
United States steel. and the Ike.
Short Cove inz; Crop Uncertainties
With an exlcusire short interest out
standing in the ms rket. the demOnsJra-
ton Of strength in the international
list on Monday Influenced the retirement
= bear commitments elsewhere IN the
list. The attendant improvement IN
prices was seized upon by the trading
element which bid I'D one active stock
after another. This demonstration
against the snort interest-snd the
speculative market of the week was
little else-vas sustained BY soma news
DEVELOPMENTS OF q positively favorsb bic
character and some happenings which
NAV be designated as negatively IA
vorabIe, inasmuch as they disclosed
conditions not wholly satisfactory in
themselves but not as unfavOrsble as
Wall Street had imagined they might
be Superimposed upon the real de-
velopments was 2 choice aggregation Of
deal and rumor stories, including some
faatasticaI tales Of alleged railway com
biuations. and the usual round OF yarns
dealing with concealed assets, prospec-
tive melon cuttings and the like
It is still too early 10 obtain any very
definite information as TO the crops,
which question is by far the most i'm
portsnt that the financial and CONNER
cial markets have TO consider The ad-
vices bearing upon the cereals and cot
ton are singuIsrly conflicting From the
current reports, when End their way
into print. one could demonstrate with
equal facility a favorable or an IN
favorable report Of present conditions,
and this diversity Of opinion, together
with the price movements Of cotton and
wheat CT the exchanges Indicates
o4,ite clearly that the markets are
alternating between hope and fear.
There can be no doubt that this uncer-
tsfutv plays a very considerable part
a the present time IN influencing the
s.do-uothinC'' attitude Of certain infu
eutisl operators IN the security mar
ket.
Government Crop Report
Probably the most favorable single de-
veIopment Of the week was embodied
I IN TIE Government crop report, giving
4he condition Of winter wheat, on May
Is II was a somewhat mixed present
uent It showed that, on May 1, ths
area Of winter wheat TO be harvested
was 100000 acres, or $4,000 acres Go
per cent? more than the area harvested
/ IN 1909. but, on the other hand, 1t esti-
mated that 4,499,000 acres sown in wheat
tad Leen abaDdoned since December L
FINANCIAL