New-York tribune., 1912-01-10
FINANCIAL MARKET
Tradinu in Stocks Influenced by
Equitable Fire-Money Easy.


davis stock market was natura"'
destruction by fire Of the Equitaoie i1iie
,,.,,,rorce Building, which caused 'he
,.,thdrowal from use temporarily oi
go, millions of dollars worth OF secu-
rifles held as collateral for Stoch ~
change loans, and which seriously H"-
reded the operations Of several I'M
portant banking institutions. Inc s'aN
~, of the complication was shown Oy
the decision of the Stock Exchange gov.
erning committee at hastlig ed'''u
sraciaI meeting. at which suggestions
for tho closing Of the exchange were
r,ada and that deliveries for the day
sbould be suspended. except by mutuai
consent Exaggerated accounts OF 'he
evtent Of the fire were circulated in Lon
don and accustomed much selling there
and on the local market prices openeu
down in response to the lower range
abroad The decline was checked soon
after the opening. support being gwen
and then followed a long period OF dull
moss
the close, with final prices for most OF
the issues showing net losses running
from fractions to or } points. Union
Pacific. which for many days has been
under pressure, suffered the greatest loss
of any of the active stocks yesterday,
closing 35s points down from Monday.
Steel common lost liz points, closing at
about the low of the day. and Reading
declined 25s. The copper stocks were no
exception TO the general rule of falling
prices, although the statement of the
Copper Producers Association for De
cenber was about up TO expectation and
was fairly favorable with its reduction
of more than 90, 900, 600 pounds in stocks.
Production increased 100000 pounds,
but a gain of 12,190,000 pounds in ex-
ports was shown. The ginning report,
which showed 1882, 156 bales of cotton
ginned up to January |, caused a decline
in the cotton market, as judging from
the experience of former years the 1911
crop will prove to be about a million
bales larger than the January / figure,
or not much under 1J,500OOO bales
The local money market was some
what disorganzed as a result of the
EQUITABLE Life Building fire, and bust
n, SIS in the time department of the mar
ket practically was at a standstill, owing
to tne action of the Stock Exchange
authorities in suspending transfers for q
day and the action of the banks in
Withholding their prerogative of calling
loans A large amount of collateral is
locked up in the vaults of the Equitable
Life Building, and naturally there will
be much confusion in the settlement Of
many accounts until 1t Is possible to
reach the vaults, which just now are
buried under the ruins of a building
that has always been considered imper-
vious TO fire or eartl quake. The safe de-
post, vaults in this building are strong
enough to resist the ravages of fire, but
they now lie under a mass of stone and
steel the removal of which will take
time, possibly weeks 1t may be recalled
that while the San Francisco fire wiped
buildings were damaged only as far as
their outward looks were concerned.
The big vaults in the ruined Equitable
Building hold almost incalculable treas
ure in the way Of securities, but invest
ors who have securities deposited there
need not worry over the safety of their
possessions. Money market rates were
nominal in the day and foreign exchange
quotations remained firm, with little
business reported. The disorganization
Of the money market, Of course, tended
TO restrict operations in foreign ex-
change. In London "a good demand for
money was reported. rates exhibiting an
advancing tendency. General monetary
conditions here do not encourage the ex-
pectation Of higher price for loan ac-
commodation in the near future. In
fact, there is no reason to believe that
{ money market Will not remain in rs
present easy state for months to come