1901 vs. 1924

The stockmarket has continued to prove the most active spot in business. Volume has been continuing at about an average of 2,000,000 shares a day, with rising prices in both rails and industrials. Liberty bonds, on the other hand, have been weak and other gilt-edged bonds have been stationary or weak--another normal sign of a good-sized "bull market." The heavy trading in shares has drawn forth many comparisons with active markets in the past--particularly with that of 1901. As yet, however, the present market has still to equal many records established in that financial classic. No bull day has yet seen 3,200,000 shares sold, as on Apr. 30,1901. No bear day--yet--has equalled the record of May 9, 1901 (the day of the Northern Pacific corner), when over 3,300,000 shares were sold on the Exchange. In 1901, something less than 200 stock issues were listed on the Exchange ; whereas now, issues number over 900; moreover, in many cases, a given stock issue today will include more shares than in 1901. Relatively, therefore, recent trading has been nothing like as active as in the earlier year. However, single transactions 23 years ago often involved between 500 to 10,000 shares; whereas at present almost all sales are for 100 to 500 shares, with a great number for less than 100 shares which do not appear on the stock tape at all.