Business: Summer in Wall Street

While general business is dull this Summer, the same cannot be said of finance. In the matter of vacations, as in many other things, Wall Street is opportunistic. During dull Summers, attendance in the Stock Exchange and in investment and commercial banking circles during July and August is notoriously slim. This Summer, however, the usual vacations are not being taken. Million share days on the Exchange have reappeared. Railroad mergers are not merely being discussed but being effected. Utility propositions are to the fore. The long-suffering bond salesman is coming back into his own again. Despite the sweltering heat, executives and traders arrive early and leave late. Not since the Summer of 1920 has there been the activity in the financial centre that has been witnessed during the past month.

Frequently in the past, activity in Wall Street would presage general business activity to come from three to nine months afterwards. While this is by no means an invariable rule, still merchants in New York who are somewhat disgustedly conducting very languid "Summer clearance sales," are wondering if they, too, may not look for livelier trade this Fall and Winter.