The New York herald., 1921-02-12
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
End Of Week Leaves Stock
Prices Irregular-Bank
Loans Fall.

The final stock market session OF the
week was accompanied BY the same sort
OF desultory, meaningless transactions
which occurred in preceding days. bring
ing an irregular list OF prices al the
close. The railroad group. perhaps. re-
flected little more than did the day
before the postponement OF action in re-
gard 10 wage schedules The Labor
Board may be expected to expedite mat
ters as much as possible, but what the
share market is considering Is the pos
sib.lity of several months OF unfavor-
stands TO reason that what the carriers
experience In the way OF unsatisfactory
returns cannot be replaced by revenue
later on. Chicago. Milwaukee and ST.
Paul; New York Central, Reading and
Union Pacific declined a point or more.
In the case Of Reading. however, II was
evident that rather sharp selling pres
sure had part OF It's derivation in re-
ported details OF the segregation plan
which provided less advantage for the
Junior stock than had been expected
The Street has come to believe that the
disposition OF the conlpany's coal prop
critics viii not be made gratis to holders
OF Reading shares, but in exchange for
q cash payment which, while nominal in
contrast with the estimated value of the
fuel lands, nevertheless will entail the
transfer Of round amount Of funds
into the Reading treasury
The outlook Tor the money market was
hardly clarified by the Clearing House
bank statement. issued day earlier
than usual because OF to-day's recess.
As the Federal Reserve report was not
made public It was Impossible to deter
mine exactly what the changes of asso-
I ciated bank Items meant. The statement
Of actual condition at the end OF the
business week showed decline OF nearly
! S7S,00o.000 in loans, In contrast to an
Increase of $4,000. 600 in the week before.
Because of the heavy flow of new
financing last week It may have been
that the growth OF loans then was con-
the current week, however, the d:stribu-
.ion OF millions of bonds and notes to
investors enabled houses Of issue to cut
down their borrowings. With the decline
OF loans came a fall OF s47,4oo,o00 in
demand deposits. Members OF the Fed
eral Reserve Bank had q decline OF
$i.2S0,000 In reserve credits In that In
stitution. but It was not possible to
large or moderate in amount. The cut
ting down OF deposits and an increase
Of ss,300,000 cash In vault were factors
permitting an increase. of s4,25O,0o0 in
excess reserve. the total OF surplus re-
serve being s19,3oo.0oo.
AS prices of goods at wholesale and
retail have fallen steadily in the last
few months, the relation of bank clear
ings to the actual condition Of business
is less easy to define than In periods OF
business reaction with a smaller price
movement. Clearings show, however, a
steady contraction one week with an
OtIacr anu III comparison WIFI a year
ago. Bradstreet's record for the week
ending on February 10 shows clearings
of ss.250. 200. 900 for the entire country.
2 decline 0: about 1G per cent. from tho
aggregate OF the preceding week and OF
10 per cent. from the total Of the corre-
spending week in 1920.
Liberty bonds displayed a firm front
yesterday at the same time that heavy
tone prevailed In some Of the latest
offerings of foreign and domestic cor
poration issues. The latter tendency
was not surprising IN view Of the rapidity
of the output during the last three
weeks. It has been matter OF wide
spread comment that the general bond
list has held UP as we'll as It has under
present conditions. Call money was
again per cent. in the official market.
with offerings outside at 6 per cent. but
the investment market continues TO fore
cast an easier tendency of money a
little later.