The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-12-08
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Stock Market Lingers in Rut
Trading Volume Again
Light.
PRICES SLIGHTLY HIGHER
Non-Dividend Rails Strong
Some Industrial Shares
Advance.
PRICES SLIGHTLY HIGHER

Trading in stocks yesterday was stin
! showed no deposition to move out OF
/ the rut In which II has fallen lately.
Business continued In about the same
volume "a on Friday and the usual even
| ing up process by the trading elements
undoubtedly accounted for the slightly
Nigher range of prices at the closing,
Developments all last week. and the in
/ disposition OF Wall Street to deal CON
siderabiy In securities have been such
"a to encourage bkarish operations. But
the stubbornness with which the mar
| ket has resisted the efforts to bring
about lower range OF securities Is be-
| ginning to indicate that traders are
| Incoming impatient with the persistent
| display OF bearishness without any
marked response in prices. At any rate,
| the market yesterday showed greater
| strength than for some time.
| This did not indicate that the greater
| part of the speculative forces were lined
up on the side OF advancing prices. But
| il tended to show technical improve
ment in the market, and Its readiness to
! Withstand price readjustments in com
/ modities later in the year. On the con-
! trary II Is apparent that the greater
! part OF the finarcial community Is well
| satisfied with the professional character
| OF the market while the country Is pass
| lrg through the period of industrial re-
| adjustment, and so long as there remains
n question rs to the money supply for
speculative purposes. This disposition
| apparently accounts for an utter disre-
! cad of the few news developments and
| the inclination of Wall Street to over
| look the slow but Gradual Improvement
| In the money situation In taking into
| account its future commitments The
| market may have reflected to a small
| degree the more satisfactory features O.
! The new tax bill as II was reported to
the Senate If this was the case It was
! not an extensive reflection and was con-
aned chiefly to small group Of stocks
! which have held the centre of attraction
recently.
Nevertheless the days business was
encouraging as far as II went. So were
| the suggestions of an active speculation
! In some of the low priced railroad
! shares This was a relief from me
| speciality market Of the last few days,
| md whether or not this condition may
he carried into next weeks market, al
| Of the non-dividend paying rails were
strong yesterday under the leadership
|
| Island. Missouri Pacific and other such
issues gained substantial fractions while
| the remainder of the standard rails were
disposed to be firm but inactive, Steel
,roved forward nearly point, and there
we're proportionate gains in other favor
| lite Industrial issues. but 30 far as this
department as a whole was concerned.
most Of the business was again confined
| to such shares as American Wooden, the
petroleum stocks and American Linseed.
| Liberty bonds continued their downward
movement, the fourth 4Ls making
another low record.
The bank statement disclosed an in
crease in surplus reserve OF approx
| mately S6,5O0.O00, notwithstanding an
expansion of SAT 900. 900 in the loan ac-
count and a decrease OF S30.7OOOOO in
Government deposits. The explanation
| was again to be found in the increase OF
reserve credits at the Federal Reserve
Bank Of New York. which rose more
than $4,000 200 during the week The
| foreign exchange market continued quiet
and without any special feature except
| an advance OF Stockholm, and slightly
armer tone In sterling. Business failures
| last week were 1852, compared with Ill
| the previous week, 236 for the same
period last year, and an average Of 374
| for the corresponding week In 1916, 1915
| and 1914.