The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-12
MONEY CHEAP INJUDGE ABERNETH\
 BUSINESS CIRCLES SPEAKS TO KIWANIANs
Fly WILL JOHNSON II A.

NEW YORK, Jan. 1.-The under structure of the business world TO- celved another cheering message on Friday.
 Money is again cheap. The mss-' sage came over tho financial ticksrs around o'clock.
 Call money" 1t read, lis at sX per cent, which is tho lowest figure since September 20. last. when loans were made at sh per cent"
 The quotation was for money loaned on the floor of the stock ex- change and was regarded as evidence that money used to pay off year-end obligations had found It's way back Into Wall street. There is no deny ing that reinvestment demand has been vigorous as Is attested by the vigor of the bond market. Further more, money brokers look for con ttnued easier money rates, both of the call and time variety.
 O o O Simple Explanation.
 The explanation Is simple: Wall street expected that the excellent credit position of the country would portray further improvement at the turn of the year, but the financial district was not altogether prepared for such remarkable statements as those issued by the federal reserve system and the New York Reserve bank this week.
 The financial community indeed was startled over the record jump of more than Il points in the re- serve ratio of the New York bank, pared with TAT week ago and 7S.b this time last year. While the New York banks report naturally re- fleets local conditions, the statement of the federal reserve system as whole indicated the betterment was country-wide, as the ratio for the 12 reserve banks averaged 7S.4 per cent compared with 73.S per cent a week ago, again of nearly points.
 O O O
 Several Factors.
 There are several factors. contrib uting to the ease in money. summar-
 i. Redeposit of large January disbursements.
 ?. Payment of loans by interior borrowing banks.
 3. Completion of agricultural credit needs.
 1. Liquidation of old loans ss a re-
 5. Steady. but liquid. industrial
 6. Liquidation of many business loans at the end of the year.
 T. Lending by corporations ana manufacturers.
 g. Inflow of holiday gold.
 In the "street" 1t was held that it money rates in the open market move lower, 1t is natural to expect that the federal reserve discount rate will take drop,
 Activity On Exchange.
 In the stock market operations for the rise continued in selected stocks. Still there were drawbacks, due to profit taking. It was noted that speculative profits were taken irr the rails and put back into the indus- trials. The regular leaders among the steels, equipments and motors were primarily steady, without doing after having discounted the pickup in business as shown by the turn, in steel thrilled orders and the rapidly growing advance quotations on crude oil.
 Incidentally. the oils were better today for the first time in over 9 week. Traders began to realize that ali the good news had not been dis counted and that stock values in the petroleum group were not too high, despite the year-end run up.
 French francs dropped to 8 new low In the course of the day at $.0477, compared with @ nominal value of about 19 cents each. The drop fol- lowed in the wake Of the advance in the rate of the Bank of Franc to 51s per cent from 5. The real cause back of the decline, which was . one-way movement Friday, is that France is unable to bslauce her budget without German separations. The movement may presAgc an asier tendency to- ward GermenY,