New-York tribune., 1912-03-23
FINANCIAL MARKET
Profit Taking Causes Recession
in Stocks After Further
Advance,

Stocks were strong during most OF the
session yesterday, and the trading was
active in the early hours, slackening In
the afternoon, with total transactions a
little smaller than on Thursday. In the
last hour profit taking and some scat
tered short selling caused recession.
which resulted in an irregular close with
rather more net advances than declines,
most Of the changes being fractional. and
final figures being In practically all IN
stances above the lowest OF tho day.
Covering Of shorts was factor in the
advance, the bears being impressed by
the evidences Of bull control Of the mar
ket, and the rise was aided also by a
fairly large amount Of commission house
buying. Many issues made new high
records for the current movement. among
them Amalgamated Copper and AIneri-
can Smelling and Refining common.
which were benefited by the improving
demand for copper metal at steadily
rising prices. and American Can pre-
ferred, in which the dealings were large,
as they were in numerous other spe-
cialties and in various stocks ordinarily
inactive. Lehigh Valley was conspicu-
ously active, and rose more than point,
losing its gain in the late afternoon,
however. as did most Of the other rail-
way issues. and closing fract1onaIly
down. There was no news OF sort to
affect prices, but the sentiment con-
tinued cheerful. despite the possibility OF
serious unsettlement Of industry and
business through q coal strike, the basis
for the hopeful feeling being the i'm
provement in business confidence and In
business activity, to which fresh witness
is borne in this weeks issues Of the rner-
camille reviews.
A firmer tendency is reported both In
call and time money rates, and an in
creased Offering Of commercial paper Is
noted. Stock market activity naturally
tends TO strengthen quotations for loans
and furthermore the heavy loss by the
local banks to the Sub-Treasury and the
borrowing in this market for Berlin ac-
count serve to encourage the expecta-
ton that the time is not far distant
when our bankers will be able to secure
much better figures for their funds. The
monetary situation here Is absolutely
sound and the fact that we are lending
abroad and are piling UP big credit
balance on export account should dlspe
any feeling Of uneasiness over the future
of the banking situation in the United
States. The full statement OF exports
md imports, received yesterday. shows
that exports Of merchandise In February
were larger than In any preceding cor
responding month in the history or the
country with a similar record for I'M
ports, the excess Of exports amounting
IN value to ss4,657,51S. against an excess
IN the same time last year Of $b4,282,beb
and an excess of imports in 1910 OF
s5.55s.950. For the twelve months ended
February % the excess OF exports
amounted In value to $685.. .16S,067, max
ing an excess for the last two years OF
s9s2,066,335. 1t is no wonder that the
United States is able to lend money TO
foreign countries. Treasury statement
figures for the month to date show on
ordinary account an excess OF receipts
over disbursements Of more than S.
100000, against a deficit in the same
period last year. while on all accounts
Including Panama Canal construction &C
count, the surplus aggregates $4,000, 900.
compared with a deficit of upward OF
sl,5S0,00O year ago. According TO the
known movement Of money In the cur
rent week the local banks have lost a
little more than s3,0oO,000 in cash hold
ings, owing to heavy payments TO the
Sub Treasury and gold exports, which
more than balances the gain on interior
oneratiOns.