FINANCIAL NOTES.
A fortnight ago I suggested that we should get a better indication of the real trend of the stock markets following the return of leading bankers and financiers and Stock Exchange members from their holidays. It would be premature, perhaps, to assert that the dullness of gilt- edged securities during the past week can be regarded as an indication of the probable course of price movements in that direction for the next few months, but up to a point I think the set-back is suggestive. During the summer holidays those stocks benefited by a few invest- ment orders here and from the Continent, while the leading financial interests were doing nothing. During the past week, however, buying orders on the part of the public have been few, while some, at least, of the market leaders, on their return from holidays, have regarded the portents, both political and financial, as prompting selling rather than buying operations in the gilt-edged market. Not that any very marked reaction is expected, but the view is taken that prices are fully high having regard to all the circumstances. Some of the general markets, including Argentine rails—which have benefited by the- dividend announcements—and Nitrate shares, are show-
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