The sun., 1915-05-27
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Stocks Give Good Account Of
Themselves Under tho Ne
brssksn Incident.
INTERB0RoUaHs BuoYANT

Further evidence Of Shs uncertainties
OF the immediate international situation
with which Wall Street 10 reckoning wa,
furnished yesterday when q fresh fac
tor Of complicating uncertainty was sud.
denly thrust on Stock Exchange attsn.
tion by tho cabled sdvices that the
American steamship Nebraskan had been
torpedoed or had hit . mine of the Irish
coast. There was nothing IN the des.
patches TO yield any convincing prooi
that Germany's submarine warfare had
responsible connection with thi.
episode. but Il was disconcert1ns enough
to the stock market community.
Under the circumstances the share
list gave . good account Of itself ant
the extreme dulness into which tradins
fell In the afternoon after some selling
in the morning was about the bes, sigr
which II could have given. especially as
prices rallied somewhat from their early
decline and steadiness prevailed at the
close. There was even little hardening
in the late dealings on some short cover.
ing by traders.
Indications seemed to be tina, the
news over night had abruptly halted soms
programmes Of bullish activity. for al
the outset quoted values were not much
affected by the reports about the NebraS-
kan. There was in special directions Q
confident bidding up OF prices and later
on in the forenoon there were other dis.
plays OF bullish tactics but II was mani
fest that Wall Street as a whole did no,
sympathize with operations for the rise
on what might turn out TO be the de-
liberate torpedoing of another Ameri.
can vessel.
The 1nterborough- Metropolitan Issues
were conspicuously strong from the
opening to the close. their strength be.
ing explained by the announcement that
enough stockholding assent had been
obtained to assure tho success Of the
plan for . readjustment of the status OF
the shares There was In no quarter any
important weakness and only In one
comparatively brief period was thers
enough supply OF stocks to constitute
pressure on prices. The market clearly
reflected both the strength OF the tech
nical position and the strength Of the
general financial conditions on which
values rest. although this OF course Is
not the same thing as saying that II
would have made an equally Arm and
quiet response to moro definite news sug-
gesting the possibility of an alteration
Of the countrys neutral relations with
the European war.
As for that there y . good deal of
sturdy conviction that In the liquidation
and decline following the sinking of the
Lusitania the market went a long way
toward discounting the worst eventuali-
ties but to q considerable extent yes
terday the action Of the share list was
governed by the difficulty OF reading any
accurate meaning into the Nebraskan
episode. Tho fact that there was -
little Wall Street excitexnent over II was
a gratifying token Of stability in the
financial district because II was not the
expression of any lack OF appreciation
as to what II might mean II the Ne
braskan had been struck by . German
torpedo.
At the same time there was IN eli
Wall Street quarters . disposition to
take note OF the large doubt AZ to what
had happened to the steamship and also
to resolve all doubts In the conclu-
sion that Germany could hardly fail
to disavow responsibility for II. II Ber-
lin were preparing to make a satisfac-
tory reply to the note recently sent by
Washington. The upshot of the whole
affair was to intensity speculative In
clinations to do nothing pending q SET
tlement OF the issues between this coun-
try and Germany.
In other respects the budget OF mar
ketwise information was OF favorable
bearing. Foreign exchange displayed
steadiness. but while there was a good
deal OF comment on tho discovery that
several million dollars OF gold had been
imported lately from Ottawa without
attracting notice It was not at all obvi-
Gus that any new guides had been pro-
vided as TO the future movement of the
international money market. There was
enough weakness in the grain market to
suggest that tho trade was not very
apprehensive about crop prospects. and
indeed the Governments weekly bull
letin told of reasonably satisfa ctory
weather conditions and reported no par
ticular spread of insect dAmags.