The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-25
STOCK MARKET :. :.
 .REGAll'|SL|.O!.SSES \ 1.
Healthy Pace Noted Since First 5s= Of The Year
 Continues
By WILL JOHNSON {lsaset Wire te The Ass. HeraId)

NEW YORK, Feb. N.-"Dont push; there is plenty of room for everyone" ' and "wateh your step" .are the ad- monitions of the American business world. as it enters the final week of the usual dull month of February. The healthy pace noted since the first of the year continues, and favorable devei- opments far outnumber those Of the contrary nature, but there is con- spicuous absence of any tendency to force the situation. fl
 The stock market appears to nave thrown off its fit of nervousness, Wnicn resulted in two severe breaks, and has recovered sufficiently to wipe out con siderable of the recent losses. But the general opinion is that the market VIII remain within a trading area for some time at least. In the long run, there is no question but that economic con ditions and individual earnings, both of which are good, govern security prices. The immediate market, now ever, in spite of the general prosperity of business, has an equally important political background, and this feature is at present of uncertain enough char acter to warrant caution in stock mar ket purchases. This attitude may be expected on the part of the general run of traders, though the stock mar ket may experience a semblance Of movement on some good news; Tor ln- stance, further favorable developments in the reparations situation on the continent. Nf i-t e5f
 General Prosperity Predicted
 Bankers hold that the fact that busi- ness as a whole refrains from rushing into an in-considereda boom spells more of a certainty that there will be real prosperity later in the year. The well- corrected Fundamentals of the present would then be even more favorable, for the reason that the Hull now would mean lowered production costs and a more ambitious supply of capital then. Consequently, the view is being more widely entertained that there Is small likelihood of a reduction of the fed eral reserve bank rediscount rates in the immediate future. However, later Y be- more logicals and certainly more expedient. .',-, sits.+a -} .z9r.-
 Plenty Of. Credit .-.
 At present there is plenty of credit available for business needs-the fed erai reserve ratios prove this conclu- sively-and lowering of the redis- count rates would merely swell the sup ply when an additional amount is not needed and would prove a real danger, Economists say 1t would bring dn- healthy imitation and create a tenn porary boom in commodities and se- curities. This would serve to use up the available credit and bring on stringency and a period of reaction ruining the picture for the latter part of the year. a - t'si'
 The observation of the Iron Age that it Is difficult to find a parallel for the situation of buyers Tconfering their talk Sings to 30 and 60 days in the face of S5 per cent of capacity operations in the steel industry Is recognized to ap- ply to many other industries. The point is made that forward buying orders are usually caused by either expectation of higher prices or, by fear that SUD- plies will not be large enough for flu. ture requirements. ti
 Buyer Objects To Prices at g
 But, on the other hand, a large in, crease in forward orders also of itself causes higher prices.. and by taking products off the market helps to curtail the visible supply.
 The present attitude of the consuming public is striking in that the buyer ob. jects to higher prices and does no, seem to consider them inevitable, evet when the supply and demand situation seems to be against the buyer. Still his aggregate buying Is very large Simultaneously, railway traffic, espe- cially in general merchandise. is run ming 2 to 4 per cent beyond the higt record of the season, showing actua distribution and consumption of mer chandise to be unprecedented. .st .y