Evening star., 1920-01-11
MARKET ACTIVITIES
ARTIFICIAL IN TONE
Indicate Nothing Except Be-
lief That Speculative Ap-
petite Remains.

(From Financial Dept. of N. Y. Evening Post. J
NEW YORK, January 10.-Not much
light has been thrown as yet on the
question how economic events are
likely to move in the next few months.
The stock market has indicated moth
ing except the belief of professional
operators that the speculative appe-
tite remains. AS plain matter of fact
the professional machinery did not
seem, this week, to be working well.
There was no sign of an outside pub
lic." and an advance Of two or three
points would be followed almost i'm
mediately by a decline II almost ex-
actly the same extent. The whole
thing was unmistakably artificial.
1t is reasonable to suppose that the
real movement is awaiting plain indi-
cation of the trend of events. Last
autumn there were two fundamental
considerations which served to en-
courage the speculation for the rise.
One was the railway question. The
other was the strong expectation that
the treaty of peace would somehow be
ratified without great delay.
Hesitancy Encouraged.
Today ratification is seemingly a
more remote contingency than ever,
while developments of high impor-
tance in the railway problem are pound
to occur in the very near future.
These considerations make for hesi-
fancy on a stock exchange.
Only in two directions have the
tendencies of the new year seemed TO
display themselves at all strikingly
The renewed decline in foreign ex-
change this week cannot yet be fully
measured as to the probability of it's
continuance.
Money Market Surprises.
The course of that market at least
caused no surprise. But the money
market has not moved according to
traditional form. In this week of last
January call money fell from per
cent to 3A. and time loans, which had
brought per cent the week before.
got down to 51l. This week the call
money rate, after easing off to per
cent, went up to 10 at yesterdays
closing. and. what was really much
more striking, loans for sixty and
ninety days relaxed only from last
weeks S1s per cent rate to u and g.
These are abnormally high figures
for this time of year. Such rates have
been asked in the second week OF jan
uary, on the New York market, dur
ing a full generation. The question
is raised whether we have yet seen In
it's full development the influence of
the war. and of it's diversion and
waste of capital, on the actual sup
ply and price of money.
This very matter was a frequent
subject of discussion during the war.
one DOQy OF SOOQ nnanclaI opinion
then held that ending of the war. with
the sudden relaxation of government
borrowings and ESQ it was argued)
the trade reaction which would follow
return of peace, would bring low
money rates. The other insisted that
the price of capital would advance.
We partly tested this question during
1919; now we seem to be in the way
of applying a second test.
With somewhat increased activity,
the stock market was again made up
today of sudden advances in a few
industrial shares, some of which rose
two or three points in the early trad
ing. In the closing hour. these stocks
lost part of their previous gains, and
there were other industrial stocks
which declined sharply from yester-
day. The railway shares were en-
tirely neglected.
Compilations of the exchange of
checks at the country's banks showed
that all monthly and yearly records
were broken, both by December and
by the full year 1919; the increase
over 1918 being 37k per cent in the
one case and 25a per cent in the
other. Week end reports of mercan-
tile agencies reported demand for
merchandise throughout the country
as stiI in excess of available supplies,
with the high-priced goods in par
ticular request. Foreign exchange
rates hardly moved today.