FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
ONCE again it is stalemate in the stock markets. Thanks to " bear covering " and a modest volume of investment sup- port, prices have recovered pretty sharply from the January attack of jitters, but there is now an obvious disinclination to carry the recovery a further stage unless and until some fresh sign is vouchsafed. This, I think, is logical enough, even allowing for the attractive yields offered on a wide range of ordinary shares, since I cannot imagine why the short- term operator, whose activities are now needed to initiate a fresh rise, should let out sail. News from the political front, if it is mildly reassuring, is certainly not convincing enough to justify much speculative enthusiasm just yet, and the business news, which can no longer be entirely dissociated from European politics, is indeterminate. It is now quite evident that in the United States the industrialists, as well as the stock market and commodity speculators, are inhibited by nervous feelings about Europe. Hence the unmistakable signs of hesitation in the business recovery and the lack of any sort of enthusiasm on Wall Street. I feel, therefore, that failing some really constructive development either in politics or business (and I cannot imagine the second without the first), markets here will do well to consolidate their recent improvement.
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