Exchanges

March ended with a madness of trading on all the country's stock exchanges. Of course on the New York Stock Exchange ecstacy was shrillest. There more than 3,000,000 shares had changed ownership on each of the last 16 full (5-hour) trading days of the month. On each of four days last week brokers handled more than 4,000,000 shares. Last Saturday two hours business saw 2,430,920 shares exchanged, a record. During the entire month, 84,987,834 shares were recorded on the tickers as bought and sold, also a record. But records no longer seem to have meaning. Of the present stock market situation it must be said that many men stubbornly believe that stock prices are too high for the underlying business of the companies which they represent and that just as many, but slightly more stubborn, men believe that stock prices are not unreasonably high. For both types of traders there has been ample money to borrow at reasonable rates of interest for backing up their market beliefs. Business has not been asking much money from bankers; bankers (required to make profits) have been lending money to stock traders.

The current speed and volume of trading has made more valuable memberships in practically every stock and commodity market of the country. Seats have risen to new highs. Some current seat prices:

N. Y. Stock . . . . . . . . . . $375,000

N. Y. Curb . . . . . . . . . . 65,000*

N. Y. Cotton . . . . . . . . . . 26,000/-

N. Y. Produce . . . . . . . . . . 23,000

N. Y. Rubber . . . . . . . . . . 11,000

N. Y. Cocoa . . . . . . . . . . 5,600

N. Y. Coffee and Sugar . . . . 17,000

N. Y. Maritime . . . . . . . . . . 350

Boston Stock . . . . . . . . . . 18,000

Chicago Stock . . . . . . . . . . 24,500

Chicago Board Trade . . . . . 9,000

Detroit . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500

Los Angeles . . . . . . . . . . 35,000

Philadelphia . . . . . . . . . . 11,500

Pittsburgh . . . . . . . . . . 2,500

San Francisco . . . . . . . . . . 125,000

Winnipeg Grain . . . . . 8,000

Toronto Mining . . . . . 90,000

Every time a share of stock is sold on the New York Stock Exchange, New York State gains a tax of two cents. On these 4,000,000-share days the tax surpasses $80,000.

A month ago William Ladd sold his membership in the New York Stock Exchange for $295,000. Last week he paid $360,000 to regain membership. His three weeks change of plans cost him $65,000. Nonetheless he made a large net profit on his transactions for when he first bought his Exchange membership (in December 1924) it cost him only $100,000.

Appearing on stock market ticker tapes last week, was a new symbol: KVL. It represented the stock of the Kelvinator Corp., a subsidiary of the Electric Refrigeration Co.**

For the first time since the War the Western Union last week began printing over its tickers quotations of stocks on the London Stock Exchange.

*Reached last December.

/- Reached at the end of 1924.

**In Manhattan last week the Electrical Refrigeration Show displayed the chief makes of electrically cooled refrigerators--Copeland, Iceberg, Kelvinator, Universal, Frigidaire, Icemaster, Rice, Wayne, General Electric, Iroquois, Welsbach.