Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-03
TRADERS WATCHING
COMMODITY PRICES
Firmness in Copper Is Bright
Spot-Wheat Presents
Problem.
BY CHARLES F. sPEARE.
Special Dispatch to The star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, March 3.-Next to signs
OF business improvement, Wall street
scans the horizon most closely for izidi-
cations Of a turn In the course Of COM
modify prices. Taking the market lit
as a whole, about the best that can be
said is that the decline has been re-
tarded as to rate and that here and
of betterment
The most striking illustration Is, OF
course, the copper metal market. On
Saturday some producers were reported
to have made sales at 1914 cents
pound. against the oficial quotation of
10A cents, and yesterday there was an
advance Of " cent In the export price.
This is q long way from the 24-cent
peak reached in the middle Of March,
1929, and only q cent above the ex-
IRENE low of last December, which, In
cidentally, was the lowest since 1894
and 1895, but It is cheering none the
less and has had an effect on the cop
per stocks.
Effect on Earnings.
The hardening of the price coin
nual report of the American Smelling
& Refining Co., the income statement
of which emphasizes the disastrous ef-
fects on earnings of the slump in the
prices of the non-ferrous metals. Amer
lean Smelling earned S3.77 a share on
its common stock In 1880. against $1,000
a share in 1929. Had it not been for
the inventory loss the company was
forced to take because Of the drop In
metal prices, net would have been equal
last year to $5.19 a share.
That, however, Is not all. American
Smelling pays cash for products Of the
mine at the time Of their receipt at
the smelter, based on the then current
price of the metal. 1t takes about 30
days for the various processes, and any
difference in price taking place during
this period Is for the account Of the
smelter.
The custom has been to set up a
reserve to care for variations in the
price of the normal amount Of metal
carried during the processing time. This
reserve had always been adequate up TO
last year, but the amount to its credit
at the close of 1929 was 8,670, 900, and
that sum was entirely used up, so that
an additional amount of 5,704 900 was
transferred frcm surplus to the reserve
account, and even this was eaten into
so that on December 81, 1880, the ac-
count stood at $5,069,910 after all ad
justmentS.
Wheat Problem.
Undoubtedly this bookkeeping loss
will be made up when and If metal
prices recover. When that time will
come no one can say, but it is reason
able to believe that the copper pro-
ducers will not make the mistake they
did when they advanced quotations for
the last time, with the result that de-
mand dried up. Any raising of the
price now is sure to be gradual and
moderate.
As to other commodities, the wheat
problem appears unsolvable. Perhaps
the longer term outlook is more prom
ising for rubber than in other quar-
ters. The statistical position Of rubber
is not encouraging, but If automobile
production increases as the motor car
makers seem to expect demand for rub
Der vii be stimulated Then, too, If any
commodity has been debated it Is rubber.
In 1925 1t reached a high Of $l.23
pound and today the price Is In the
neighborhood Of cents pound, q
drop which would seem to have dis
counted the most unfavorable Of out
locks.
Copyright, 1ssI)