New Britain herald., 1922-12-30
STOCKS AND BONDS AT HIGHER RATES
Year Ends With Marked Improve
 ment in Business

New York, Dec. 30.--(By Associat- ed Press. )--Stock and bond prices generally close tho year at materially higher levels. which is not only a re- fcction Of the marked improvement that has taken place in business and industry during the last 12 months but also construed by conservative banking interests .,s an indication of still further progress in the coming year.
 The year closes with conditions fa- vorabie for further appreciation of commodity and security prices in the opinion of the financial community. unfavorabIe and unexpected develop ments in the political and economic situation abroad are generally con- sidered as the only probable obstacles to arrest the improvement in the bus mess and financial world which be- gan in the summer of 1921 and has continued with few temporary inter- ruptions until the present time.
 Prosperity Predictions.
 The prediction of further business prosperity is based on several known facts. Foremost among these is the easiness of the money market and the huge sums available for commercial credit. In addition most stocks Of merchandise are low.
 Railroad traffic is close to record levels, exports are increasing, the principal European exchanges are heading back to par and the Europ- can economic situation shows signs of improvement. Exports are in- creasing and unified orders for rail- road equipment are the largest in years. Other favorable signs are seen in the facts that no big strikes are threatened or pending great amount Of construction work is still in arrears despite a. record breaking year of ac- tivity in the building industry; auto mobile production reached a new peak, which probably will be exceed cd next year while gasoline con has been the highest in his tory and electric companies are do. ing a record business
 Great Stock Sales.
 Sales of stocks during the year to- i alled approximately 260, 900. 900 'hares as compared with 171, ,0o0. 900 | ast year. 223.ooo,o0O in 1920 and s07, ,S00,000 in the record breaking ear of 1919. Bond sales this year cached the unprecedented total of i, approximately $4,155,oOO,000 as against $3.5o5, 100000 in 1921. The oeak of bond prices for the year was cached in the middle of September md the lowest level early in January. One of the features of the bond mar set was the return of U. S. govern nent bonds to par.
 The widest fuctuation in the stock market took place in shares Of the ttlantic Refining Co.,, seldom dealt in | which ranged from low of $900 to | < high of $1,575 or $675 difference.
 Industrial Issues.
 Among the active industrial issues Mexican Petroleum provided the chief | feature, getting as low as l06s4 and i IS high as 322 or range of 2151 1-4 points. Approximately 95 per cent. ,f this stock has been acquired, through conversion, by the Pan- American Petroleum and Transport | so., thus virtually removing it as market factor. Among the railroad hares Michigan Central fuctuated he most selling between 156 and 330 ,r 174 points. The smallest f1uctua- ion took place in Alaska gold mines which sold between 7-S and 1-4 off. Other interesting developments in the tock market was the declaration of tock dividends totalling more than 2. 1000, ,000, ,000.
 While most industries showed sub recovery from post war inf1a- ion, the number of failures during he year was the largest ever record d. Severe labor troubles particu- arly the miners and shopmen's strike lso had disastrous effects, costing ach of the principal railroad sys- ems millions of dollars and even nore to business generally For the rst time on record there was a 1arked shortage of manual labor due , part to the restriction of immigra- on
 Crops, with few exceptions, were of ecord size and the higher prices rought vastly greater purchasing over to the agricultural regions par cularly the south.
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