END-OF-THE-YEAR INFLUENCES.
Apart from high-class investment securities the general tendency of markets during the week has been somewhat uncertain. While, of course, there are exceptions to every rule, I think if will be found that usually the first three weeks of December are characterized by stagnation and a certain amount of liquidation. This liquidation -is of two kinds. 'Speculative accounts which have been running through the year are often closed down well in advance of the final settle- , ment of the year, while, in some other directions liquidation is due to a desire to present a strong cash position in end of the year balance-sheets. Other things being equal, however, 'when the final Stock Exchange settlement of the year is con- cluded, we often experience an outburst of end of the year .optimism, taking the form of purchases for the new account. --Whether this habitual cheerfulness will be a feature at .the end of the current year remains to be seen, but at All events there is nothing in the present stagnation of markets as a whole and the dullness of markets in places, which indicates any lind of adverse anticipation of prospects for 1927.
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