The border vidette., 1927-12-31
BUSINESS CONDITIONS IN THE
18TH FED. RES. DIST.

A continuance of previously
noted declines in industrial &C.
tivity, seasonal expansion in
trade, and maintenance of sound
credit conditions, characterized
the business situation in the
Twelfth Federal Reserve District
during November. Crop yield
and marketing statistics which
became available during the
month furnished further evi
dence that generally satisfac.
tory financial returns would be
realized from the years opera.
tions in agriculture and livestock
raising.
The incidence of demand Gre.
dit has tended to shiftfrom agri.
culture and industry to trade
during recent weeks. CONNER.
cial loans of reporting member
banks are not now so large in
amount as they were year ago,
but it is probable that industry
and trade have been accommo
dated, to some extent, by the
proceeds of loans on securities,
which are in record volume. De
mand deposits at reporting banks
have increased since the mid
summer low point and growth of
time deposits has continued, so
that total deposits of these banks
on December 18th were II mil.
lion dollars or 0. 9 per cent larger
than six months ago and 79 mil
lion dollars or 4.6 per cent
larger than q year ago. AS total
loans of the banks increased but
4 million dollars over the year
period, most of this increase in
deposits is reflected in q sub
stantial rise in investment hold
ings. More extended use of dis.
count privileges at the Reserve
Bank has accompanied the No
vember December expansion in
demand for credit but the amount
of Federal reserve funds in use
is still relatively small. Discount
holdings of the Federal Reserve
Bank of San Francisco increas
ed from 20 million dollars to A
million dollars during the four
weeks ended December IA, 1927,
and were Is per cent larger on
that date than one year ago. In
terest rates for commercial paper
hardened slightly during the
past month.
Reported data on building,
numbering. mining, and flour
milling show slight declines in
activity during November, as
compared with one month ago
and one year ago. Figures of
industrial. employment tend to
confirm tffis evidence of mod
crate decrease in production.
Distribution and trade, on the
other hand. have been we'll main
tanned during recent months at
levels equal to or slightly above
those of year ago. This banks
index of retail department store)
sales (1923-1925 daily average
1907 stood at 116 in November
1927, 113 in October, 1927, and
112 in November, 1926, allow.
ance being made for seasonal
fluctuations. Our seasonally ad
justed index of sales at whole
sale (1925-1925 monthly average
100 stoon at 104 in November,
1927 and 1926. The figure for
October, 1927, was 96. The com
parison with one year ago makes
no allowance for decline of about
| 2 per cent in the general level of
wholesale prices during the past
year.
The generally satisfactory out
come of the agricultural year
has been marred only by the
marketing difficulties of certain
groups of producers notably
some of the deciduous fruit grow
ers of the Pacific Coast states
and the potato growers of Idaho.
In evaluating the results of the
agricultural year, it should be
noted that the farmers of the
district will not be obligated to
use so large proportion of the
years financial returns in liqui.
dating old debts, as has been
necessary dufing each of the
past several years.
Springerville - Construction