The sun., 1918-07-25
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Wall Street Trading Is Again
Marked by Intense
Dulness.
LIFE IN SPECIALTIES
American Sumatra and To-
baccO Products Continue
Erratic Movements.

Intense dulness continued to feature
yesterdays Wall Street market, which
ftom a purely speculative viewpoint was
as dull and uninteresting as any this
year. Trading at times came almost to
a point approaching suspended ANNA
ton, and although prices showed slightly
more resistance than on the previous
day. the net changes at the closing were
of such narrow proportions as to be OF
practically no significance. Interest con-
verged. as in the sessions Immediately
preceding. almost entirely In the spe-
cialty department. The news develop.
ments, both concerning the war and the
domestic situation. were as good as
could be expected under the circum-
stances, hut it was not apparent that
either the wealth OF encouraging news
regarding the battle situation or. in fact.
such bearish considerations as made
their appearance during the day. made
any great impression on the speculative
fraternity. The prevailing tendency was
a waiting one traders showing no dspo-
sition to follow up the 4snarket's per-
formance for the last Two or three days
or to enter into new commitments on the
long side of the market.
Except for further details concerning
the new revenue bill Wall Street was
without much dsQuieting news. Even
this development was not regarded as
OF great Importance. That taxes will be
raised materially under the new revenue
measure is not to be doubted by the
financial district and 1t has needed moth
Ing further than Secretary McAdoo's
own statement to this effect several
tn n
There were further reports as to another
German peace drive, and terms were cir
culated freely pwporttng to have been
sent to the Allies from neutral sources
but even II Wall Street had been inclined
TO regard them seriously the amount Of
interest manifested in the trading would
have prevented adequate reflection The
only real change in the market situation
was in the money outlook. The rate for
call funds dropped to 5n to 6h per
cent. as contrasted with 6 to 6h per
cent, the prevailing rates for period
Of almost month. The trend was Of
course encouraging so far as easier
money was concerned. but II was not
sufficiently pronounced to stimulate con-
siderable activity on the Stock Ex-
change.
Toward the close there was slightly
more animation in the industrial and
steel shares, a reflection no doubt Of the
encouraging trend In the money market
Although the animation during this
period was the best thing that has been
seen this week its significance was Ques-
tionable to the great majority of f1nan-
cial interests. Steel common reached
1861 during this movement But the
main interest for the session as a whole
was in the specialties. where American
Sumatra and Tobacco Products con-
tinued their erratic movements. With
respect to these shares activity, par
ticuarly in the former. was based on the
\ meeting yesterday of the directors Of the
American Sumatra Company in regard
| 10 dividends. Elsewhere the market was
a tame affair indeed The coppers may
have been slightly more aggressive than
some of the other departments in re-
spouse to the belief that the War Indus
tries Board will grant an increase in the
present copper schedule. but none Of
them made any pronounced improve
ment The railroad list continued dull
and embarrassing, as did the bond and
investment market.
The easier trend in the money market
was explained partly by the completion
of most Of the large Government tinan-
cial movements and partly by reported
deposits in the local banks by the Gov
ernment There were also some move
ments Of funds from the interior toward
| New York institutions Whatever the
| cause of the improvement, it was highly
satisfactory to the speculative element,
as was shown by the sharp squirt of ac-
tivity in the Stock Exchange In the last
few minutes OF trading. This also led
! to the belief that after all the money
market has probably had as much to do
| with the disposition OF traders to deal
| little in securities in face OF the en-
| couraging war news as any other single
| factor. The foreign exchange market
| was dull, and except for pesetas. which
| were a shade easier, rates were about
unchanged from the preceding days
|