NEED FOR DISCRIMINATION.
Notwithstanding the curtailment of eontango facilities at the fortnightly settlements as compared with the pre-War period, there can be little doubt 'that much of the upward movement in these securities can be traced to purely specula- tive operations either on loans borrowed from brokers or from banks or from dealings on account to account. Indeed, it is significant that at the beginning of each fortnightly settle- ment there is now eager, buying for the new account with a disposition to snatch any profits a few days later. Moreover, as is usually the case when speculative fever increases, the dis- position has been to go far more for fanciful prospects in the future than carefully to analyse results already achieved, and why, at the beginning of these notes, I have described the reaction as " healthy ' is that just now there seems a greater disposition to discriminate in the matter of public buying and to give some attention to markets which have been under a cloud. Investment securities have maintained their position during the past week, while there has been a greater tendency to give some support to English Rails. Moreover, in the speculative departments more encouraging statistics of Rubber stocks, and the prospect of some greater restriction in exports from Empire territories, have given a fillip to the market for Rubber shares.
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