Show Trade In the East A suspension of the Reading iron works and a panic in copper have made metals conspicuous during the past week In many other directions however there are still signs of improvement the demand for money has rather strangthened the railroad rail-road earnings continue to indicate a traffic larger than that of last year and the bank clearings exceed those of last yearby about 16 per cent with gains much more widely distributed than usual But for several important failures and the uncertain prospects pros-pects of speculation the outlook would be altogether more favorable The failure of an important iron establishment estab-lishment has checked at least for the moment mo-ment a feeling of increasing confidence which seems to have been due less to any increase in demand than to a decrease in pressure to sell At Pittsburg prices were a little betterand at Philadelphia and New York more firm without advance It was understood that some diminution in weekly I output had been effected in February But the Reading failure with the prospect that Inrcn works mav be closed for a time has so D changed the feeling that buyers are likely to be conservative and any pressure to sell would weaken prices In bar iron and plate there is no improvement rails are unchanged without further sales reported nails are weak and the market for structural struc-tural iron is slow and unsatisfactory The coal market is also so despondent that a meeting of the companies is expected next Tuesday to protest against the state of things prevailing and it is said to reduce the schedule of prices But actual sales are reported about 50 cents below the schedule already the output is over 387 000 tons below last years and yet the accumulated ac-cumulated stock at Port Richmond alone is I reported at 220tOOO tons The market for I bituminous coal is also dull The price of cotton has been maintained in spite of news that the overland movement move-ment in February had reached 80000 to 90000 bales Reports from Cuba help an advance of threesixteenths in raw sugar but leather is again a shade weaker for some grades and the tone of the wool market mar-ket is depressed both by the conservative demands of manufacturers many of whom are running only halftime and by reports that the spring clip is likely to show an increase in-crease of 20 per cent The dry goods market mar-ket has been irregular but equal to expectations expec-tations with fair transactions in mens ware goods for the season and an active jobbing trade in cottons Prints are irregular irreg-ular but print cloths a shade stronger Reports from interior towns generally indicate improvement in the volume of business busi-ness and in the demand for money which is still however in ample supply at nearly all points for legitimate demands The reports re-ports of slow collections continue but are not more unfavorable than heretofore and recent failures of more than usual importance import-ance do not appear to have caused disturbance disturb-ance The foreign trade continues large exports exceeding last years about 11 percent per-cent and imports about 44 per cent and the rate of foreign exchange remains unaltered un-altered though money here has been rather dearer During the past week the treasury has taken in only 600000 more than has been disbursed and the outgo to the interior has continued but withdrawals from Europe do not reappear as yet The stock market has been dull irregular and somewhat some-what depressed but transactions have been mainly confined to the traders on the floor and the hope of success in organizing the interstate compact still sustains holders The general average of prices for commodities commodi-ties has declined during the week about a third of 1 per cent The business failures occurring throughout through-out the country during the last seven days as reported to R G Dun Co number for the United States 241 and for Canada 40 or a total of 281 as compared with a total of 232 last week and 270 the week previous to the last For the corresponding corres-ponding week of last year the figures were 253 made up of 195 in the United States and 58 in the Dominion of Canada |