Show THE OUTLOOK the investment and speculative conditions have improved much since the election as was confidently expected there is no reason for doubting the stability of the industrial condition naturally however we should expect a period of quiet waiting and such moderation is beneficial nothing however can cheal the general growth and improvement in the business and prosperity of the country the changes in the tariff will not have any material effect in hindering this improvement pro anted states steel business and stocks are often regarded as a good index of the business of the country and the speculative or investment prospects the business of this great corporation has been improving most remarkably in the past two or three weeks orders for thousands of tons of steel have been received and millions of dollars will be spent in equipment requiring all the capacity of the great steel plant tributary or subject to the united states steel corporation this company according 1 to reports has now on hand in cash as working capital and surplus the new gary plant is now in operation and this will have a yearly capacity of more than tons of finished steel the earning capacity of the whole corporation should therefore be enough to pay the regular on the preferred stock and put the common stock on a 7 per cent or 8 per cent basis within the next year or two under such circumstances the common s stock 1 LO ck should advance to a point fully as high as the present price for the preferred there are some interesting lessons learned from the bank statement for the week ended december ath the total clearings of the banks of the country for that week were or an increase of per cent over the corresponding week of last year the surplus reserve on hand at the close of banking hours was the greatest for ten years A year ago the deficit was the deposits exceeded the loans by while the loans for the year preceding were more than in excess of the deposits and in 1906 they were in excess of the deposits these figures have an interesting lesson lesson the barometer of the stock market for december ath reached while on the corresponding date last year the barometer indicated only this was a gain of 2592 this is the high point reached since the election we may expect some fluctuations be dinst we may expect some fluctuations between now and the first of the year as the holiday season approaches but after the year opens we may look for a steady upward improvement |