New-York tribune., 1917-07-20
Thursday, July I9, 1917

market did not call for any new ex-
PLANTATION. At best, what occurred
was largely a repetition Of recently
preceding days, with dulness even
more pronounced. The turnover
barely exceeded 100000 shares. Of
this the bulk was professional, trad
ers offering stocks downward on the
lack of anything favorable in the
outlook rather than any positively
bad news. A London cable published
In a morning newspaper, giving a
rather pessimistic view of the ship
ping situation-in fact, more pes
simistic than seems warranted in
the face of the official figures of the
British Admiralty-induced some
selling of stocks at the opening.
Thereafter the list fuctuated irregu-
larly until early in the afternoon,
when prices eased off again. Subse-
ouently there was a slight rally at
the close, but the majority Of stocks
left off with net losses on the day.
To the unprejudiced observer the
action Of the stock market at the
present time is not surprising.
There are too many important mat
ters before Congress vitally affect
ing stock market values that re-
main to be definitely settled. Until
the taxation programme, the price
fixing policy, the shipbuilding con-
troversy and innumerable other un-
certainties are converted into GER
tainties not much can be expected
on the constructive side of quoted
values. 1t is one thing to say that,
intrinsically, stocks are cheap, but
another thing to induce the public to
buy stocks Of companies facing not
only abnormal tax levies, but gov
ernment supervision through price
control. The public has not been
buying stocks in any important
amount for weeks, and a revival OF
interest from this quarter is not
looked for at this time. At the same
time, the present firmness Of money
is a restraining influence on pro-
fessional operations.
The effect of the general uncer-
tainty on the stock market is i'm
rortant, but not so much so as the
effect upon business. Trade reports
indicate that the volume of business
moving is slowing down to consid-
cradle extent. Merchants and man.
ufacturers everywhere are restrict
ing purchases, not only because of
the obscure outlook attending the ad-
iustment of trade to war basis,
but also because of the possibility
that before long they will be able
to purchase supplies of raw ma
terials at more reasonable prices.
This has caused pronounced
all;ng off in bookings of new busi-
ness in several lines, notably in the
steel and copper trades. The lull in
demand has had at least one
advantage, however-the upward
movement of steel prices has been
halted for the time being. For the
last fortnight open market quota
tions for eight leading steel prod
ucts have remained at the same
level. Previous to that they had
been advancing rapidly.
Money rates have been firmly
maintained throughout the week,
but there has been no repetition of
the furry of Monday, when the call
rate scared to 10 per cent. The
! banking machinery seems to be
working smoothly again. No COM
plants are heard from commercial
houses. They are obtaining a suf-
! fciency Of credit accommodation
around s per cent. This, of course,
/ is the important thing, for were
money scarcity to affect this field it
would very soon become drag on
commerce and industry. Taking the
money market as a whole, the best
banking opinion is that from now
on we will be confronted with alter
mating periods of tight and easy