The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-01-14
FINANCIAL NEWS
And COMMENT
stock Market Trading Falls
OFF and Prices Fail
to Hold.
UNSETTLED AT THE CLOSE

In the irregularlty and hnal unsettlc-
mcnt and weakness which succeeded the
early irmness the stock market ycster-
day indicated that Wednesdays upturn
had been owing chiefly to the covering Of
speculative short commitments II not
to any radical change for the better In
the technical position Of stocks. The
extent to which bearish commitments
had been retired was one Of several fac
tors in the late signs OF progressive i'm
pairment In the list.
For one thing the western storm in
terfered seriously with communications
and resulted In "A contracted volume of
trading. There WAS Of course no way OF
telling whether better wire facilities
would have added support TO the market
or resulted In heavier pressure. The
Mexican outraGes seemed also TO have
produced an overnight impression on
sentiment probably because Of the addi-
tionai indications which 1t afYorded in
the Congressional debates " the grow
ing restlessness Of the country under the
Administrators foreign policy. Incl
dentally signs of u prospective augnen-
tation of trouble in the field Of foreign
policy were discernible In the advices
from abroad regarding the outright es-
Establishment Of "A British naval blockade
dkdiIlSt ptIIldNy, IliNh IIllkut ISSuit III
making maritime warfare enter a new
phase Of desperation and would tend
to stimulate activities here TO foment
Washington controversy with Great
Britain.
In the main. however. II was apparent
that Wall Street was still contending
with a stock market position which was
rejecting the factors of profitable gen
eral business expansion. Reduced as
was the aggregate Of trading. advantage
was taken Of the opportunities furnished
by intervals OF advancing strength TO re-
alize on contracts for the rise. New York
Central, Inspiration Copper and special
ties like Cuban American Sugar and In
dustrial Alcohol and American Coal
Products were bid IN rather sharply.
but without influencing any develop
meat Of confident forward purchases in
other directions. Their principal effect
Was to induce more desultory short COW
ering and discourage a renewal OF bear
ish sales.
The altered complexion of the market
was indicated by thu fact that Baldwin
Locomotive and other conspicuous war
shares continued to hold at depressed
levels for the fourth successive day, al
though In past months they had never
failed to rally extensively ard very
promptly from the extreme Of substan-
tidl deCllne. CruclDle steel was pu>Neu
up in spectacular fashion and there was
a fresh effort to arouse int rest In the
conjectural profits OF war orders, but
these endeayors fell rather fiat. In .he
afternoon the market turned dull and in
the last hour. when II was seen that buy
iix power had apparently disappeared
at the level Of prices then current, there
was AN active application Of pressure.
Mexican Petrol: Jun and American
Smelling were heavily offered for sale
and broke badly. The latest demonstra-
tons in Mexico were the explanation
commonly alleged for the performance
Of these. but II was equally open to
conjecture that the movement was re-
lated to the generally unsatisfactory
position OF numerous industrial issues
which have lately been run UP to high
levels without any apparent cause. The
list in all directions was more or less
unsettled toward the close II the
nal tone was heavy. Ronds on the,
other hand wers active and strong and a
feature OF the week so far has b-eu
the evidence OF a growth OF investment
demand. as speculative buying In sccuri-
ties has wared.