Omaha daily bee., 1922-05-06
Financial
By ALEXANDER DANA MOVES
Ossha Nee Leased Wire.


New York. May s.-fhe notable
ineiden, OF todsy's financial markets
was the advance OF sterling eN-
change beyond the previous high
level OF recovery, On the ilFst OF
March the rate touched S+ts SO; on
March II Il was back at st2 Ia.
aud the subsequent gradual advance
was apparently hindered. not helped.
by the proceedings at Genoa. Te-
day Il reached si4t "a. a rate
quoted last when the London eheque
passed hat iisufe on July u. 1919.
~ the course OF swift decline
which carried down the rate ia four
midsummer weeks rom $3.50 TO
Sass.
Incident, oi this Kind inevitably
sugses. contrast OF the periods.
When sterling passed Slis on tic
down grade in July 1919. on its way
TO the S.ls quotation oi February.
l9sJ, the wild speculation IN all mar
keis OF the world was approaching
ils climax. Money had loaned At Is
per cent on the New York Stock ex-
charge and the reserve percentage OF
the whole federal reserve system was
~ I-S. The monthly surplus OF ex.
ports from the United States was
Sseo.0oo.eO0. Great Britain's surplus
oi imports was 7c.0o0.0o0 pounds
sterling.
Eeopes,ie Reversal.
IL u emily by comparing that s,ran..
situation with tho thoroughly fradiustt.i
speculative markets OF today, tho . 10 4
per cent inensy rate. III. federal reserve
surplusss OF tsi.eoe. ooc TO tTi'oSo. 900 or
lees from the United States and the re.
cent monthly Import surpiuses OF SOC, 900
pounds TO 100000 pounds into Great
Britain. that the economic reversal which
wholly comprrhendrd.
Today's stock market resembled nil the
cthrr markets OF the week, perhaps with
the purely professional character Of tho
dealings more sharply marked than on
any OF tho preceding days. i,s general
tendency seemed again TO be towards
muieratc reaction. with more extensive
losses where spectators In some Of tho
lately much exploited oil snd shipping
shares tried TO take profits. but with an
effort TO offset tho influence of these de-
rllnes by suddenly bidding up other iso-
lated stocks. The closing was Irregular.
little chang. In prices. one movement
OF the day worth mentioning was tho de-
cline In banking sccepisnres pretty
good measure OF the money situation, to
the lowest rates this year.
Expansion Of Loans,
| Statements In detail by the separate re-
serve banks show ,as was rather clearly
forcshadowed by Thursdays reports for
the system and for the New York bank
| that the expansion OF loans and increase
OF reserves held for member banks had
| occurred In the larger cities These
changes came mostly on the accounts of
New York. Boston and Chicago. In all of
which districts the reserve percentage de-
creased. But at the banks In western
and southern districts gold reserves In
| creased largely during the week. loans
were as a rule reduced and the ratio OF
reserves went higher. In the typical
frozen credit district served by the At
Iants bank the reserve percentage rose
to sou. az compared with 45L year
ago. The Atlanta ratio is today actually
the highest Of all of the reserve dis
For perhaps the first time since the
great reaction began in the spring of
1920, toiay'S week end mercantile reviews
have something more to desire than tint
proving sentiment" II is plain enough.
that outside Of the steel and iron trade,
tangible recovery is proceeding slowly.
But Dun's Review goes 30 far AS to say
that practically without exception. basic
industries reflect renewed activities that
anticipation OF forward requirements Is
now more of a factor" and that the Wis
| ible disposition is ito undertake commit
| ments that had been deferred because OF
| uncertainty oyer the outlook Dun's pre-
| liminary compilation OF the present weeks
| exchange Of checks at banks In the large
American cities shows the rather remark
| able increase Of 2014 per cent over the
corresponding week in 1921.