The Syndicate’s Ghost

Copper Traders Apparently Are Still Afraid of It

“With the syndicate practically a corpse, there is no reason why trading in copper should not return on the floor,” said a member of the Metal Exchange yesterday. “The trouble is that the copper traders are afraid of the syndicate’s ghost now that the body has been buried with 160,000 tons of copper resting upon it and forbidding all hope of resurrection. And I do not blame them. This is the third time within the year that a piano has struck this Exchange. Last April tin raised a storm, in October lead followed suit, and now copper caps the climax. All that is wanted is some plucky operator to step in and set the bell rolling, but that individual is not to be found, and day by day goes by without any business in copper being done or any tangible assurance of a collapse of the disturbing element, with subsequent resumption of trading.

The report from Paris that the financial crisis continues, and that, in addition to the 100,000,000£ which the Bank of France had advanced to the Comptoir d’Escompte 75,000,000f more had been drawn from it, was generally understood by local copper men to mean that the latter amount had been supplied to the banks which had heavily drawn upon by depositors. Their theory was that the banks thus suffering were known to have been connected with the copper corner, and that this was the cause of the distrust which produced the run on them. The question was to what extent would the Bank of France be able or willing to further supply, if called upon the needs of banks crippled by their connection with syndicate affairs, and this was regarded as a problem whose favorable solution depended more upon the public feeling than anything else. It was thought probable that the excitement in France will be allayed and the pinch will come when at the end of two months the syndicate is again called upon to buy copper under its contracts.

Nothing was done in local copper yesterday. There was only one call in the Metal Exchange, at which 12 cents was bid and 16 cents asked for spot, the figures for March being 12.25 cents bid and 15.50 asked. Bottling prices were March, 14; April, 13; May, 12.25; June, 11.50; July, 11.

source: The New York Times
location: New York, New York