The Washington times., 1912-01-07
WALL STREET TRADERS WORKING HARD
TO GIVE STOCKS STRONG APPEARANCE
Public Interest EbbWhen Attention
Speales Are Brought Show Better
menShel and Iron Trade Lag-Sneet Hopes for
JOHN DATER.
ssceial

+, drift or tendency one way or another.
This In itself, however, may be regarded
thing. L Indicates that business, as a
| whole, ID not going back.
This is well confirmed by the recog-
nixed trade authorities, which. however,
much conservatism. and that no dispose
ton Is manifested anywhere for undue
| expansion Industrially. the chief en-
couragement still centers upon the Inn
nS ses n Ths .dv " the 81 t tSe
interval. bearing upon iron and steel.
were TO the effect that various plants
which were closed entirely or were
operations in full. The blast furnace
/, capacity had increased ut Pittsburgh,
and that the leading producer Of dn-
ished products was now operating at
| An Improvement, too. was noted In the
prices for basic iron and steel, and for
some finished forms. while copper metal
also displayed q stronger tendency.
Mysterious Money Movements.
Without question the most discussed
! feature Of the week in Wall Street was
the very sudden and decided relaxation
| In money. AS a result the financial dis
| trist Is left very much mystihed con-
corning the series of remarkable bank
, statements which appeared In the latter
part of November and the FIRST weeks
| In December. when loans and deposits
were suddenly cut down 500 600 or
panic Of ls07-was reflected In the report
| OF the clearinghouse banks, and call
money touched per cent. or course.
some portion Of this hardening Of money
was. at the time, attributed to heavy
loans to Germany. and to window
dressing" by the Canadian banks: and il
! would appear that hysteria had played
some part In the higher rates OBJ
tanned for time money and commercial
paper.
| Whatever the cause. however, Wall
street was scarcely prepared for an i'm
mediate slump In money after the turn
Of the year. for the January disburse-
ments. amounting to, say, quarter of
billion dollars. are not all payable on
the frst business day OF the year, but
Usually money rates, IL they harden
! sharply before the years end, do not
| relax much before the middle of jan
uary. when the amounts paid out In
banking reservoirs. That very many
| bankers misjudged the situation on this
| occasion is unquestionabiy the case.
| and II Is rather peculiar that they seem
| wholly unable to explain how this hap
pened even to their own satisfaction.
The Bank Statement.
| Call money, which ruled at 4 per cent
on Tuesday, loaned freely at "a per
cent on Wednesday, and was quoted
nominally at per cent yesterday, but
| Fridays range was 2k to ~ per cent.
| and these are the governing rates
| Thirty-day money, which ten days ago
| loaped freely at "A to AZ per cent, and
which In the preceding week ruled at
81. to ! per, cent. fell to 8 per cent
during the interval. and longer ma
| turtles declined about Y per cent,
per cent. Naturally while this en-
courages a belief Of continued easy
| money for the financial district, II
! creates doubt in the minds of some
persons az to the extent of business
| improvement and as to the prospect OF
! industrial revival.
| High-grade bonds and short term
notes hardened as result of the re-
Taxation in money. but chiefly in con-
: sequence of buying by institutions,
which figured out that such securities
! would return more on the money than
+; IL 1t was employed in time loans or In
commercial paper The bank statement
! today disclosed the reasons for the re-
! Taxation i'm time and call rates, mas
! much as the surplus reserve increased
no less than sS.242.250 and now stands
/ at $27, 239, 100 above legal requirements
! Specie and legal tender holdings showed
a gain of $I4,510,000. Loans expanded
! $13. $4,000. OF course these figures throw
! no light on the mysterious money move.
ments of the past, already referred to
; but Wall Street will probably forge,
this enigma in the prospect Of CHEAP
and abundant funds.