FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
WITH the August holiday season fast approaching nobody would expect the stock markets to generate much steam. It is, in fact, all too apparent that they are performing really well in keeping quiet and holding firm in face of ugly poli- tical possibilities. Technically, of course, everything is in favour of firm prices in that there are no open " bull " positions worth speaking about, and the " bear " position— made up of many different types of sales—is fairly sub- stantial in relation to the trifling volume of business passing. Thus, unless the political news becomes really grim, I cannot see any sharp fall in prices, whereas any develop- ments which provide a reasonable basis for hope would easily produce a broad rally. Meantime, the economic news, such as the June steel output, rail traffics, retail sales, and even America's steel figures, points to increasing earnings over a wide range of industry, and helps to confirm the investor in his will to hold on. In more normal circum- stances business news as good as this would be accompanied by speculative buying and a substantial rise in Stock Exchange quotations. I do not expect such an upward movement just yet, but it, will develop very rapidly—if and when the political clouds lift.
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