OCR Text |
Show : WHY COPPER MIDI SLUMP MUCH MORE Reduced Prices Close Mines, and That Would Mean Reduced Output. The copper market has continued vory quiet, and while 13J cents remains the official price, there havo boon reports of sales of electrolytic at as low as 13i cents and small lots of Inferior brands aro rumored ru-mored to havo changed hands at 13 cents. The Copper Producers' report having signally sig-nally failed to induce buying, It Is believed be-lieved that another reduction In the official offi-cial price will be made nt almost any lime, says tho Boston Commercial Bulletin. Bulle-tin. That copper can decllno much further Is almost unbelievable, for comparatively few mines can show more than a nominal profit even on the present markot. and ' nny further recession would have tho ln-I ln-I evitable effect of bringing about a sub-stnntlal sub-stnntlal curtailment of output, which would undoubtedly chock tho downward 1 tendency In speedy fashion. But tho factor which is operating to put a dam-I dam-I per on enthusiasm In coppor sharo olr-! olr-! l ies is tin- poor Vprospects of an advance . In the near future that would warrant 1 the prices nt which the shares are now J selling, for that th.- coppers are selling well above their Investment worth Is undeniable. un-deniable. Month after month the coppers havo been sustained and even advanced on tho strength of the belief that a material ma-terial Improvement In demand and price has always been close at hand, but traders trad-ers are now beginning to tiro of this sort of thing and havo been assuming a more bearish attitude toward tho list hi general. gen-eral. The common impression Is that, i unless there is to be a radical change for the better very shortly, it will be possible to buy all tho coppers nt recessions from their present level. Under tho circumstances circum-stances there has been considerable liquidation and" selling within the past few days, more especially In the case of AmalKamated and North Butte. Wall street loves an active market and conversely It hates a dull one. There were times this week when tho first hour of business yielded scarcely sufficient volume tp pay the largo commission houses for keeping their clerical forces at work. One cause of the dullness, however, how-ever, was the virtual demoralization of the wire business as a result of the heavy storms In the west, which Interrupted communication with such Important centers cen-ters as Chicago. St. Louis, Cincinnati and San Francisco. The whole markot had a hesitant attitude toward the close of the week ami there were periods of heavy selling. Surh reactions as occurred were only of a nature to Indicate that the market mar-ket was being left to Us own devices without professional support of any kind. There were rather definite rumors toward the end of the weak that the treasury ii-nnll rrm unimnnrn nnntllnr ifillr nf Pannma canal bonds ami that -the hanks would be asked to bid for such offering soon after the new administration took ofllce. While there was no official announcement an-nouncement on this score, the position of treasury finances was such as to Indicate that such llnanelng would havo to bo arranged before long If the government was to bo saved from having to sell another an-other short-term loan, running one year and carrying 3 per cent interest. The most reassuring factor of the whole situation continue? to be the really remarkable re-markable demand for bonds. This Inquiry takes In all classes of buyors. and reaches the largest constituency thut the bond houses liavo appealed to In year. The bonds that- were absolutely unsalable a few months ago aro being absorbed by the public at price which make the bond dealers exceedingly happy. One shrewd lond operator, who lias entree to good Investment circles. .In spite of the fact that ho Is known to bo something of a trickster, and not many months ago was obliKed to give up very respectable connections con-nections because of the embarrassment that he put his friends to. Is said to have cleared a profit Inst month of $450,000. The story is virtually the same with all bond houses, and there Is not the slightest slight-est doubt that the buying has been of the best' diameter possible. Many of the out-of-town banks that havo found themselves them-selves unable to loan money at advantageous advan-tageous rates have been heavy buyers of hlgh-grado securities at terms which yield thc-m virtually 4 per cent on the Investment. In the same way the savings banks have begun to buy again after having hav-ing held out- of the markets for weeks, and there Is also excellent absorption by out-of-town trust companies. Besides the institution buying there has been the best possible Inquire by small Investors all over the country, whoso purchases havo averaged from one to twenty-five. lK'iids. This hnvlng. which resembles the odd-lot buying In the stock markot. is about tho most healthy demand that the market could have. |