Financial Notes
ELECTION UNCERTAINTIES.
IT says much for the undercurrent of hopefulness and also perhaps for the sound technical condition of markets as a whole that, in spite of the proximity of the General Election, prices should continue to have been so well held. Dealings themselves have been restricted, which is not surprizing, for it is seldom that markets are confronted with three more important factors than those operating at the present moment, namely, General Election uncertainties, the final decision of the Reparations Conference, unannounced but pending, and a financial situation in the United States which must still be described as threatening in the sense that the low rate of the American Exchange menaces the gold reserves of Europe. In spite, however, of these factors making for restricted deal- ings, prices have been well held in most departments, and it is difficult to escape the conclusion that given favourable devel- opments as regards these three main influences we should see a further rise in prices. Of the three factors mentioned, I am inclined to give first place to the last one, for while political developments often have a great effect on price movements for a time, the influence is usually of a more temporary chaiacter, but economic and monetary influences are of a more direct and enduring character.
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