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Show I GREAT WEEK IN FINANCIAL MART Rise of Liberty Bonds to Par Means Money Is Back to Normal. By STV.VJRT P. WEST, Special Corespondent of tlio Standard - i F.xonitner. Copj right. 1022, by the Standard-Exam Standard-Exam 1 id3 r. NEW TOTlK April IE. The past week will no down as tho most Important Im-portant of tho Reason so far in tho financial fi-nancial markets. Tho outs Landing In-H.lnnt In-H.lnnt was tho rise In most of United States war loans to par for the flrBt time that any of them, save tho nontaxable non-taxable S l-2s, havo sold slnco they wero brought out. This was the logical consquenco of tho treasury's M" r.ouncemont that the rato on Its now issue of six months certificate" was to bo 3 1-2 per cent, tho lowest Rlncc September, Sep-tember, 1917. These two occurrences considered together wero of great nl- r.-st as a landmark In American finance. fi-nance. Thy meant tho last step in the restoration of treasury operations to a pre-war footing, the removal of the last trace of the disadvantages under un-der which tho government was conducting con-ducting its borrowing during th war and post-war period."?. HONEY BACK TO NORMAL. Immediately following and probably influenced by tho action of the troas-SfK, troas-SfK, ury department, tho Bank of England dropped Its dlscoifnt from 4 1-2 to 4 per cent. It was the second reduction in two months and brought tho rate hack to where It stood In Jul. 1014, tho month before the great catastrophe, catastro-phe, un both sides of tho water official offi-cial recognition has thus been given of what has been plain for several months past in the outside money markets, mar-kets, namely, that money conditions art? back to normal pre-war basis. At tho same time the Investment movement of the last three quarters of a year finds itsolf Justified. This movement aimed at no'ihlng less than obliterating tho vast shrinkage which the war brought in Investment values through the abnormal rise In rates of money Interest. It act ordlngly set as its goal the prices prevailing before the war and great as ho ieon tho advance ad-vance since June, 1921, this level has not yet been oxceedtd. GENOA LfLlE( i:s EXCHANGE. In several other respects the week has been notable. The irrmt economic gathering of all times Is in session in( Genoa and while It is too early to anticipate the results thi markets of tho world have shown then- In II at Ion toward an optimistic view. The principal prin-cipal reflection has 'neon in iho foreign for-eign exchange movement where sterling ster-ling Is back to within a f w cents of its high of March l. where rn ru h exchange ha i -.1 iLs pr. uua top of tho year and where all the other continental exchange's Including even German marks, have joined" in the upward up-ward tendency. STABILIZATION HELPS TRADE. Undoubtedly, the two prime factors in this upward-movement are the turn of international trade in Europe's favor fa-vor and the further balancing of indebtedness in-debtedness to America through thol sale in this country of foreign bonds and the extension of private loans l ! business men here to European customers. cus-tomers. But some credit must also be given to the efforts which the experts ex-perts at Genoa are making to revise , tho relative value of the various cur rencies and fix a new a andard for the ir.ternatlonal exchanges, upon which they can bo slahill7t-d If this la accomplished ac-complished It will ni''in don- away with the most formidable obstai le that Inow stands In the way of trade ro-I ro-I vlval STEEL PRICES ADVANCE Then, too, the news from our own industrial centers has been Important There has been another series of quite sharp price advances in the steel trade, those advances partly due to the dc-slro dc-slro of buyers to cover their requirements require-ments before B possible serious curt-'U-jmcnt of steel output on account of the coal strike In the Oil trnd prices have likewise turned upward, thus settling set-tling a question which has been the - ibjecl of Diui h dlfff n-nce of opinion for the last four months MOV I MINI JUSTIFIED. Regarding tho Wall street markets they havo had, as is well known, two leading Impulses behind them since the first of the year. The first has been the eaeing moiiej situation, the second the favorable view taken Of the business busi-ness outlook. To the extent that tne stock market since the middle of Jan-. Jan-. u ir-. has b m n llsoountlhg a 4 per com money market, a 3 1-2 per cent rate for government financing, and renewal renew-al of the trade re 1 cry which started i last autumn but was Interrupted in tho earlv winter. Its action has certainly cer-tainly boVn warranted 1 SPECI LATIOK INCREASING. ; But the stage h is now been reuclvJ Where the dangi-r Ilea of the discounting discount-ing movement being canled too far. The investment side of the markets has been fully as prominent this week as at any time before But the trouble trou-ble Is that the speculative side has become be-come more prominent, and there Is .1 threat that the unusually strong background back-ground affor.lerl by one of the greats periods of Investment activity of all time, will be abused by the current speculation If the market for the past week is still some distance i..".' from the supreme pitch of excitement u hed In October. 1919, md againln April. 1920, some of Its performances have been out of keeping. That is, j By have been altogether extravagant, 1! mg the view that we are not in for my trade boom but merely for a gradual grad-ual and orderly return of business to a normal basis. |