WISE INVESTMENT
SPECULATORS who rushed boldly into markets a fortnight ago have been badly shanghaied. Even before the Eastern cloud burst the Stock Exchange had displayed much blossom with little friiit, which suggests that the main body of investors hid already decided to adopt the waiting tactics I corn- mended to readers Of these notes. /453;w that the heady vision of a summer -boom has faded, investors, whether staid or more speculative, have time in which to take their bearings. Apart ftoin the Eastern situation, the picture remains much as it was. Home trade is still striding strongly, oversea markets are gradually expanding and the commodity prospect is promising: With quotations rather lower and still drifting downwards, there is obviously a fairly wide range of securities approaching attractive buying levels.
What of the Sino-Japanese situation itself ? For the present it must take the place of the Spanish war as market enemy No. r. While there should be little likelihood of any of. the. European Powers being drawn in, there is obviously plenty of scope for the kind of incidents and Notes which always depress Throgmorton Street. As for the more immediate investment reactions, the sharp falls in Chinese and Japanese bonds and the marking down of shares such as Hong-kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and British- American Tobacco, already reflect the uncertainties of the position. I do not like Japanese bonds as an investment, but should be reluctant to jettison Chinese issues or the shares of either of the two companies I have just named at current
prices.-
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