FINANCIAL NOTES BUSINESS QUIETER.
Two circumstances have tended to restrain activity in the investment markets during the last few days. One is the continued stream of new capital issues, referred to in a subse- quent paragraph, and the other is the gradual declining of hopes of an early reduction in the Bank Rate. I should not like at the present moment to turn down too emphatically the possibility of a lower Bank Rate, but at present there is the plain fact of the continuation of the coal stoppage to be faced and each week we are getting nearer to the autumn, when reductions in Bank Rate seldom occur. But, while there has been a slight pause in Stock Exchange activity, such as might, indeed, be expected with August at hand, prices in most departments have been wonderfully well maintained, and even Courtaulds have partially recovered from the set-back occasioned by the somewhat unexpected reduction in the interim dividend.
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