New-York tribune., 1912-01-26
FINANCIAL MARKET
Stocks Halt for ST. Paul Dividend
ACtion-PriCeS Firm.

When lust after the close OF business
on the Stock Exchange yesterday the an
nouncement was made that the St Paul
directors had declared semi-annual
dividend Of ~ per cent on the common
stock. reducing it from I to per
cent basis, an uncertainty was removed
which had been the chief stock market
influence during the session, and which
had operated to limit trading in the gen
eral list to a total Of less than 2Jooo
shares and To keep prices within narrow
range. In the first hour there had peen
a semblance of activity at rising prices.
but thereafter the market was extremely
dull, coming almost to an absolute stand
still in the last hour, after the meeting
of the st. Paul board had begun. The
general tone was fairly firm, most OF the
issues closing with small net gains, al
though under the best figures of the day.
ST. Paul itself was advanced about
point on covering Of shorts by operators,
who looked for a rise in price to-day on
"buying when the bad news was out"
but il closed with a net gain Of less than
- point. The reduction of dividend has
been commonly expected for many
weeks, and the general impression has
been that the stock would be placed on "A
) per cent basis, as the gradual shrink
age of price has brought it to a figure
which represents the discounting Of >
per cent reduction in the dividend The
decision of the directors 10 lower the
dividend will be generally approved as a
conservative step in view of the decrease
in the earnings of the company, which
has been in large measure caused by the
expenditures which the st. Paul has
been obliged to make for account Of It's
Pacific Coast extension, the Puget Sound
road, the earnings of which have not yet
come up to the expectations formed
when the construction of the line was
undertaken.
Bank balances are growing and the
people are econOmizing, two factors that
suggest the time is not far distant when
industrial expansion and prosperity.
This statement is based on an interview
in The Wall Street Journal with a
banker Of long experience in the finan-
cial community who believes that in
spite of current relative dulness In gem
eral business and the uneasiness over the
political outlook the accumulation of
funds at the leading financial centres
eventually will be the means of bringing
about marked Improvement in all lines
of trade. The idea is sound. Money
makes money, and the current large
bank resources and the constant increase
in the nations wealth from the products
Of the ground most certainly warrant the
expectation of better times ahead
There was no change in loan quotations
yesterday and no indication Of firmer
figures in the immediate future. Local
bankers made further loans abroad, but
little business was reported for home ac-
count, while in the foreign exchange
market there were no developments that
tended to discourage the belief that gold
VIII not be shipped from New York to
London in February. The supply Of bills
in the exchange market is light, and this
fact in connection with the difference in
money rates between this centre and the
British capital, naturally point to an out =
ward movement Of the yellow metal.
Demand sterling was strong yesterday.
In its weekly return the Bank of Eng
laid showed a proportion of reserve to
liabilities of 1870 per cent, comparing
with a ten-year average for this period
of 1914 per cent, while the banks dis
count rate Of 4 per cent compares with
an average Of 3% per cent for the corre-
spending time In the last decade. The
Bank of England is lending heavily TO
Lombard Street, and evidently II Is in a
position to make its per cent rate ef-
fective for weeks TO come.