Finance: Hopefully Complex

There was a rapid sequence of events this past week in the financial and trade world. Accompanied by feverish speculation, cotton surged forward almost to the frequently predicted price of 30 cents. Although the volume of transactions in stocks decreased, prices were irregularly strong. Bonds in general turned downward under advancing money rates. In Germany the printing presses rendered colorless previous superlatives of financial writers by adding in the single week 450 billion new Reichsbank marks!! Some ingenious mathematician has computed that at this rate 1923 would see outstanding marks break into the quadrillions—an achievement beyond the power of even the Bolsheviki.

Finally, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced an advance of its rediscount rates from 4 to 4½%. This occurrence provided a live topic of conversation both in Wall and Lombard Streets. Certain features attending it, because of their fundamental connection with the future course of American business, deserve close attention.