Evening star., 1933-12-04
MARKETS FOLLOW
UNRUFFLED PATH.
Steadiness Despite Monetary
Controversy Regarded
as Striking.
BY GEORGE T. HUGHES.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, December 4.-The strik-
ing thing about all the financial mar
kets at the start Of the last month oi
the year is their steadiness. The con-
troversy over the monetary policy of the
administration is carried on with just
as much vigor as ever, the effect on
Government credit is as acrimoniously
debated and the demand for ''stabiliza-
ton" is as vociferously reiterated. But
the markets are undisturbed.
Abroad, concern increases about the
ability Of France to maintain gold pay
nnents and the drain on the gold sup
ply Of the Bank Of France is greater
than ever, but the exchanges ductuate
over surprisingly narrow range. The
same can be said of the stock market,
taking it as whole. This indifference
is interesting.
Take the case of Government bonds
first. They had bad sinking spell
just after the resignation of Dr. Sprague
from the Treasury Department and the
publication of his letter giving his rea-
sons therefor. They showed symptoms
of weakness for some time before the
question was raised as to the method
Of refunding the December IS ma
turtles.
Agitation Subsidies.
AS far as the market goes, this
agitation has subsidized. Between the
close on Saturday, November Is, and
the close on Saturday, December 2
lon6-term Treasury issues gained ground
the avesage At no time during
A1lvOughlks On lie BART ol investors.
0e5orae9 6f eourse as this ssa6iiity in Govern
ment obligations is susceptible of ex-
planatiOn. II may be said that Gov
ernment buying was responsible or that
purchases by the Federal Reserve sus-
tanned the market.
There is, however, no statistical evil
dence for this belief The amount
announced purchased for Govern
ment funds by the Acting Secretary OF
the Treasury and the amounts bought
the latest information, we're too small
to have much effect
In any event, there is no longer
of liquidation to secure funds Tor eH-
natriation. There also is no more
Worry about the orthodox nature OF
the midmonth Treasury financing.
Exchanges More Stable.
Turning to the exchanges, sterling at
the close Saturday was down only 2l2
cents en- the week and the French franc
down only 81 points Each OF them
has often varied more than that IN a
single session. The gold value OF the
dollar, measured by the French franc.
is about where it was week ago. al
though during that time the Washing
ton price for gold has been advanced
25 cents an ounce. Whatever may have
been the intention of those In control
of the gold policy, the effect has been
to moderate the swings in gold value In
the world market.
The stock market is slightly lower
but only slightly. Taking the Dow
t9nes sfsas aeefases aeenea as points s IN 1e
The railroads lag pOlhts and tht utlll-
ALI OF LLlLl llVC CllllgCQ more lllal
gsa s Ii a hsetS tiS1sS szEes at absus tie
lowest OF the year.
The real outlet for speculative en-.
ergy nowadays lies in the commodity
markets and in particular in silver and
rubber All records for silver trade in
this market were broken last month,
when transactions ran to 262, $50 900
ounces. compared with 30,876, 900 ounces
in November a year ago. November
trading in crude rubber was the Sec
ond largest total of record.
Copyright, 1888, by North American News
paper Alliance. Inc)