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Show BUSINESS GOES STEADILY AHEAD j Stock Market Seems Out of Of Touch WitA Actual Conditions WEEKJjY FINANCIAL OUTLeOOK. By si r in p. WEflT. Special Corrcflpondeiit of The Sund-ard-Exa miner. (Copyright. 1 922, by Th( Standard- Exn miner t NEW YORK, Nov. 1 A week ago II was stated that the principal subject sub-ject of discussion In the Wall street situation was whether the rapldlj declining de-clining stock market at that timo was a mere downward turn correcting n previous ov er-speculation' or whet he; it portended a genuine hange In sentiment sen-timent regarding the financial outlook. It was plain enough to those familiar with the market ways that tho decline could be accounted for perfectly well on the ground of conditions on the stock exchange Itself. Tht is to say It had no reference wha to the situation In finance and industry outside. out-side. But it was not until tne latter half of the past week that proof wa:' afforded which was striking enough to satisfy the non-professional public. Thn without the slightest, development develop-ment in the trade news, .without fresh stimulus from any other quarter, the market suddenly turned about an I rushed back over the ground lost with the rapidity that it hud plunged dr.v. u t.ard. RAIDS INFLUENCE 9TREB It is the accepted rule of the spec ulative stock market to foreshadow economic changes, and over the long run It does perform this important function But of the market of the last two months it cannot be said that It has been of the hast significance as a barometer of business, conditions. Rather it has r ponded as no other market lias dom ft i years to the shifting shift-ing operations ot certain individual and speculative groups operations conducted with u boldness that has seldom been eqaulled In Wall street history. The decline in flic lat fortnight of October was undoubtedly . 1 1 1 1 (oi the extra extravagances of the midsummer mid-summer speculation But after all, it was a raid of the crudest sort, designed de-signed to allow the dominant speculative specu-lative interests to get b.i k cheaply stocks which they had hen distributing distribut-ing a month and two months before With this object accomplished the Ti.trket rebounded readily, and no further fur-ther attempt was made to read into the Wall street movement anything unfavorable for the general trade outlook out-look BUSINESS LITTLE CHANGED. Th" commercial position. n a matter mat-ter of fact has altered very little from what It was early in September. Railway Rail-way tonnage, as measured by tho weekly figures on carloadlng". hai closely approximated the maximum of all time. Herein lies the strongest evidence ev-idence of the activity of trade throughout through-out the country. Consumption, of goods 1b back to normal and production produc-tion has followed. How much profit lis being made out of this very natls-jfactor natls-jfactor business volume Is another question Results differ widely as between be-tween individual industries. Some have been more successful In advancing advanc-ing prices and reducing costs than otherb. j The lines- of business most favorably favor-ably situated in these respects can look forward to a fairly prosperous year In 1923. Those that are not so well off will have to be content with a small return It has not now, nor Is it likely to be, a time of extraordinary profits, but rather a lime of active competition. BOND MARKET RALLIES The recovery In United States government gov-ernment bonds of the losses sustained the previous week has been stlmu-i stlmu-i latirig influence for the investment market in general. Still the improvo-'niflnt improvo-'niflnt which has occurred in the bond list is more of a rally than an advance The main upward movement in investment in-vestment values can only be resumed if one or the other of two bines happen hap-pen either money rates must work permanently lower or the supply of new securities be so curtail".! that investment in-vestment capital will .-if cumulate a sharp loss With more and more capital cap-ital being absorbed in industrial lines, the flist contingency seems altogether unlikely. As for the second, new issues is-sues are still coming out in volume sufficient to absorb any pronounced Investment surplus. I Tho German reparations matter has reached another crisis, where oppo:ii viewpoints promiso to be brought again Into violent collision. The allied commission is Investigating on the spot whether It Is possible or not for Germany Ger-many to balance her budget and at the same time provide for the full indemnity in-demnity schedules as they now stand. The results of this investigation will shortly be made public. But in the meantime the mark ocntinuos to sink 'and the Berlin government has let Its j attitude bo known. This is that internal in-ternal fiscal reform cannot be deviled that, will be adequate for the purpose and that either there must be an international in-ternational loan or a reduction and postponement of future reparations iiaymcnta. The uncertain position of French i finance with this critical question so far from settlement has been illustrated illustrat-ed during the "week by renewed weakness weak-ness in French exchange which is I down well to the lowest of the year and by the comparatively low selling prices of French government securities. securi-ties. Italian exchange, on the other I hand, has broken away from the currencies cur-rencies of the other European allies for the first time and has had quite a notable recovery. Mainly, this Is an expression of tho hope inspired by ithe new political regime, that it will 'carry through successfully the pro-;grani pro-;grani ot hard work and economy to I which it stands committed. But tho Italian outlook had alread) begun to ilmprove before the advent of the Fas-cistl. Fas-cistl. The figures of the last iwo or Ifhree months have shown substantial (progress In the deflation of Italian 'paper currency and in the expansion j of government revenue. |