The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-11
TOBACCO STOCKS | WERE QUITE ACTIVE
Day Marked by Unusual Apathy for Greater
 Part of Session

l New York, May 10.-The day on the /tock exchange was marked by unusual pathy for the greater part of the ses- ion and few important price changes l ntil the very close. The movement was |erfunctory and professional throughout. l he inertia resulting chiefly from the fact nat neither bulls nor bears displayed any reat amount of Initiative, except in cer- ain issues, which lack public following. Tobacco stocks were quite active with a ise of 515 points in America Tobacco and toncurrent strength in kindred securities n the exchange and in the open market. ,merican Can achieved new distinction Ny selling higher than before, the pre- erred going to 121 and the common to e1sc
 Sales to noon were a little over 100000 hares, of which four issues-United tates Steel, Reading, Amalgamated Cop Ter and Union Pacifc-contributed over p per cent. The stagnation of the after oon was relieved by occasional spells of loderate activity, which, however, made tile impression on quoted values except l the case of Lehigh Valley and some of he more dormant specialties, including Nmerican Beet Sugar, Allis-C Chalmers pre- erred, Railway Steel Spring and Bethle- em Steel preferred. Later prices of ther and more active stocks hardened, ut the limit of dullness for the session Fas then attained. The closing was dull hut strong, with many net gains of d #oint or two in the active group and as &1uch as 8 points in some of the specula- live specialties.
 Developments of the day included the {eport of the United States Steel corpor- tion fors April it's thrilled tonnage for hat month being 360,000 tons greater than h March, thereby exceeding general ex. ectations; reports of another increase in rices by one of the more important of he Steel corporations adjuncts, and fore asts of the weekly cash movement point hg to a large gain by local institutions Ndvices from Philadelphia intimating d XFilllngness on the part of tine anthracite liners to accept the terms of the opera ors, probably accounted for the greater trength of Reading and Lehigh Valley h the late trading.
 ! Wall street was plainly disposed to ig- ore all principal occurrences, and the possible abolition of the commerce court which created some dismay when first roached a few weeks ago, excited no at ention today Dispatches dealing with rop prospects, chiefly in the middle west md southwest, ranged from poor to fair nd in every instance indicated marked aling off from the previous year.
 Our securities were strong in London, cling there at top prices, but trading Fas light. Similar conditions applied to 1ondons operations here which hardly xceeded 10000 shares, with a small bal. nee on the buying side. The easy money nd discount rates abroad were a natural esult of the reduced bank rate.
 The only railroad report of the day that 1erited attention was the statement of he Wabash road for March, showing a ct loss of over $155,000. This was not effected in Wabash issues, which showed 1ore than a fair degree of strength, the efunding As increasing their rise of the arly week to over 1 points,
 The bond market in general was moro teady, but with no appreciable increase investment interest. Total sales, -par alue, S3,l54,000. g q -. 2 ses-s ltl
 United States government bonds were unchanged on call