The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-02-19
RAPID FLUCTUATIONS
IN COTTON MARKETS
Conditions Create Unfavorabe Technical Spec.
ulative Situation in All Contract Markets
Where the Spinners Stand

New York February ls.-Trading in
cotton contracts Oh all the exchanges
including tn, Liverpool, New Orleans
and New York markets. has been very
active throughout the week. with very
rapid fluctuations. covering an extreme
range from the highest TO tho lowest
prices for the week of between nifty
and sixty points, or the eQuivalcn; OF
$3.50 TO s. per bale. During the first
Two days OF the week following Mon
days holiday ths continuation Of bull
lish activity, with splnners being
frightened into buying. advanced prices
fifteen 10 twenty-five points from last
Saturdays closing quotations. by
CARLY Wednesday, afternoon March was
asa ms; 1864 for May deliveries and
1911 for July. as contrastcd with
1864 for August. the last month for
this crop year, and 1860 for October
and 1905 for December, Of tho next
esop. the ground for which Is only
just being broken in The extreme
southwestern part of the belt,
In this rise the buying was so gen
oral ANA heavy tn, last of the shorts
were frightened into covering, and so
many were induced TO go long by tile
predictions of the bull clique OF l1!a
to l2-ccnt cotton that all the markets
we're oysrbuflcd beyond the legitimate
supply ANA demand conditions ana
heavily overhOught Prices hal been
driven 80 high ana spnners and spot
dealers, especially those in England
and on the Continent. had accumulated
so much they Withdrew from The mar
kci, with middling cotton in this South
ranging up from lola to II cents.
The Markets. Rise aud Fall.
These conditions created an unfavor-
n blo technical LAT It.o ell
nil the contract markets. Liquidation
did not start, however, until late We'd
nesday afternoon, when a line of over
100000 bales of long cotton was sud
denly thrown OF the New York market
BY some OF the largest local OPERATORS
to realize profits. This caused a
break Of nearly thirty points in the
closing half-hour of business that day
from the highest prices reached. as
stated above. From that time until
just before the close of the market
yesterday afternoon thera was such an
outPourinE of selling pressure from all
quarters that GENERALIZATION cnsued in
the trading. Spectators who had been
short of the market and had fought
the rise all tbs way up from cents,
and who were finally driven into COW
erinS and induced to take til. long
side at the top. We're among those most
traders who had been pyramiding on
their purely speculative lines OF cotton,
and who saw their profits slipping
away and running into losses. were so
afraid the bottom Of the market was
going to drop out they turned equally
a $ heavy sellers.
Ihis brought an avalanche OF cot
ton OF the market. Prices kept on
declining throughout Thursday and
the most of Yesterday. It was not un-
I'll they had broken between tfty-five
and siXty-two points under the lead of
the May and July options. or the equiv
a!ent of So per bale, that this selling
movement ran its course sufficiently for
the old hull leaders TO close the mar
ket steady and q rally OF ten points
from the lowest The March option
went TO SIS on this break. MAY 1909.
July 1910, August zoos October 1913
and December 1920. with March hnally