The Value of MoneyAnderson, Benjamin M. (Benjamin McAlester)
General
The Value of Money
Anderson, Benjamin M. (Benjamin McAlester)
Money
showing neither extreme speculation, nor extreme dullness--which latter
was the case in 1896 when Kinley's other big investigation was made. The
figures for shares sold, however, do not exhaust the business done at
the New York Stock Exchange. "Odd lots," _i. e._, sales of less than 100
shares, are not recorded on the ticker. Mr. Byron W. Holt estimates that
from 25 to 30% would be added if they were counted. DeCoppet and
Doremus, of New York, who handle at least as much of the "odd lot"
business as any other New York house, have given me the following
information about the "odd lot" business: (1) the volume of odd lot
sales is, roughly, from 20 to 25% of the volume of hundred share sales;
(2) the odd lot business fluctuates in conformity to the hundred share
market; (3) the odd lot speculator is just as likely to be a "bear" as
is the hundred share speculator, and, in general, odd lot business is
like the hundred share business. If we take the figure on which these
two estimates agree, 25%, we may add 53-3/4 million shares to our 215,
getting 268-3/4 million shares for 1909, with a value of about 24
billions. Bond sales recorded would add about 1 billion more. There are,
further, some unrecorded sales, indeterminate in amount, but sometimes
very substantial, when brokers have a number of "stop loss" orders. They
match these before the market opens, and, if the prices are reached in
the actual trading, these sales become effective automatically, without
getting on the ticker. How extensive this is cannot be stated. It may
sometimes add very substantially.[272] Thus, on the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange we have dealings in excess of 25 billions for 1909.
This is nearly as large as the figure we have assigned, on the basis of
the bank figures, to total retail trade of the country, and it may well
exceed the retail trade in fact. Recorded sales on other stock exchanges
do not, in the aggregate for the country, bulk very large. For 1910,
when New York shares reached 164 millions, the total for Boston,
Philadelphia, Chicago, and Baltimore was something over 21 million
shares.[273] The New York Curb has had "million share" days, but the
average value of shares is low. But the dealings on the floors on the
exchanges and "curbs" are far from all of the dealings in securities!
Only securities which have been admitted by the authorities are dealt in
on the exchanges. The volume of unlisted securities is enormous.
Moreover, not all, by any means, of the sales of listed securities take
place on the floors of the exchanges. The bond expert of a large banking
house in Boston informs me that the "over-the-counter" business in
Boston, both for stocks and for bonds, much exceeds the business in the
Boston Stock Exchange, and others among Boston brokers have expressed
the same opinion. The statement has been repeatedly made in the
financial press that of the bonds listed on the New York Stock Exchange,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account