Current Situation

The stockmarket has in the past proved a generally reliable index to the subsequent course of trade. The remarkable activity in shares this fall has thus been generally taken as the forerunner of expanding business and possibly higher commodity prices next spring.

Now industrial news is beginning to confirm the speculative assumptions made so vigorously this fall by the stockmarket. Colonel Leonard P. Ayres of Cleveland, sage of pig iron, is cheerful over the iron and steel outlook. Increased steel buying and increased prices are reported; the industry is now operating on a 70% basis. Wheat futures continue to rise under shortage, while staple agricultural prices are high and firm. Many industries are patently turning the corner. Imports and exports of gold are both increasing, but despite large recent foreign loans floated here, domestic money remains abundant and cheap.