WISE INVESTMENT
IF the trend of stock market prices remains, like the face of
Katisha, plain and unattractive, Throgmorton Street can at least boast an undertone which, like Katisha's left shoulder- blade, may be described as a "miracle of loveliness."
The tone is certainly there but unless some confidence- inspiring development takes place to cause a general loosening of purse-strings it is clear enough that the Stock Exchange is going to remain a rather dull place, displaying many excellent wares at reasonable prices but with nobody prepared to pluck up courage and buy. Recent industrial news has been con- sistently good. Steel production, railway traffics, employment, retail sales are all increasing and even allowing for the incidence of rising costs of raw materials there is a wide field of promise open to the speculative investor.
I see nothing in the political situation, however, to encourage
optimism just yet, and until the Mediterranean clouds lift and the East wind loses some of its bite I do not expect any sustained rally in market quotations. As things stand, the holders of securities, in London at least, are facing a period of test with a calm which, one might have hoped, would have inspired Wall Street to steel its nerves and do likewise. But American investors, it seems, have not yet acquired the new technique of ignoring crises and hanging on. Let us hope that the Wall Street market will not slide far enough to open up fresh wounds among the speculative fraternity on this side.
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