The sun., 1918-09-06
|FINANCIALNEWS
AND COMMENT
Stock Market Quiet, With Bus
mess Only Half as Large as
on Wednesday.
PRICE TREND DOWNWARD
Standard Shares Irregular
Some Strength in Special
ties and Industrials.
PRICE TREND DOWNWARD

Quieter conditions prevailed In the
stock market yesterday than for some
time and contrasted with the enthusi-
astic activity Of the first part Of the
week the session was dull and uninter-
esting. Business was on a scale fully
30 per cent. smaller than on Wednesday
AND the trend. SO far as active securities
were concerned, was distinctly down
ward. There was no very wide decline,
however. In any part Of the list. but. the
character of the trading nevertheless
showed pretty clearly that speculative
Wall Street Is not disposed to go ahead
until there has been a further readjust-
ment OF the new price level. The stand
ard shares In consequence were irregu-
lar for the best part of the day. There
was some semblance of strength again
among the specialties and Individual is
sues, which reflected partly domestic
considerations and partly continuation
OF the encouraging war news, while the
rails displayed trifle more frmness
following the announcement that the
rental contract had finally been ap-
proved by the Director General, but that
was about all that could be said of the
session.
That there was not more reflection of
the announcement with respect to the
rail contract was due apparently to the
fact that II has yet to receive approval
OF the individual roads. Whatever the
reason. speculative Wall Street was not
disposed to pay much attention to 1t.
II 1t was because there is some doubt as
to whether It will be satisfactorily re-
ceived by the carriers themselves the
financial district Is suffering from some
what Of an illusion. Indeed, 1t Is conn.,
fad IN, ali to
road quarters that the contract will be
not only strongly approved at to-day's
meeting Of executives in this city. but
that they will pass a resolution urging
immediate acceptance Of the draft in its
present form by all roads. So far as
other news developments were concerned
the financial district paid little attention
to them-that is, of course, outside of
the war news. This applied to the new
revenue bill as we'll as TO the money sit
uation. There was some discussion of
peace In brokerage circles again in con-
sequence Of the increasing Importance of
the allied victories but such discussion
is not, for the present at least, receiving
serious consideration in responsible quar-
ters. nor L. 1t In fact having any infiu-
ence on stock prices.
So far as individual price movements
were concerned in the stock list the
range was very narrow as compared
with that Of last Saturday and Tues
day. Steel lost about point; there
were minor setbacks in some Of the
other industrials, and. on the other
hand, some of the oils Of the type of
Mexican Petroleum, two or three of the
coppers. including Shelters, Anaconda
and Butte and Superior, made small
gains as did few Of the motors, no.
tably Studebaker and General Motors.
What, however. was lacking in the way
OF sensational movements In the stock
list was more than made up In the cot
ton market After advancing approx
mately 800 points on Tuesday In conse-
Quence OF one of the poorest crop re-
ports In history 1t declined equally as
much yesterday following the announce
mert that the War Industries Board has
found 1t necessary to look into the mat
ter OF regulating prices on account of the
extraordinary shortage OF the new crop.
The money market again stiffened,
call rates going back to to 6h per
cent In the light Of the movement of
rates yesterday It would appear that
the easing of the trend on Wednesday
reflected nothing more than the Offering
of small supply of funds by a local
institution. At least that was the infer
ence to be drawn from the peculiar &C.
ton of the rates. Neutral exchanges
were somewhat frmer. This department
in fact was featured by the absence of
the sensational declines OF the last few
days. There was a good demand for
sterling. which improved fractionally.
With the exception of slightly easier
tones in French francs other rates were
about unchanged from the preceding
days Close