Market Notes
By CUSTOS
INVESTORS who have been hoping that the mar- ket has now grounded have had a somewhat unnerving time this week. On Monday and Tues- day prices fell over a wide front and so the Financial Times index lost again most of what it had made up over the final three days of last week. No bells, though, ring at the bottom.
The volume of trading, too, has been at a poor level. In Throgmorton Street there is sporadic talk of more failures over the next month or two or, at best, rescue operations in the guise of amalgamation proposals. Certainly the gap be- tween the prospects for the smaller firms and those for the big boys is widening, though the latter cannot have seen much institutional busi- ness lately.
A new worry in the past few days has been the state of the American economy. Talk of higher interest rates across the Atlantic and of new measures to beat inflation point to further falls on Wall Street. Of course the two markets become increasingly insulated from each other in terms of actual buying and selling orders. But sentiment on Wall Street still has a potent in- fluence on thinking within the 'square mile.'
-About the only bright feature is the strength of gold shares. Talk of a rise in the price of the metal has prompted the renewed interest. Ameri- can and continental buying was in evidence.
There is only one policy for the small investor who has money to spend and is determined to spend it on equities. He must buy the bluest of blue chips with safe yields above the 51 per cent mark and wait for the inevitable tide of institu- tional buying to carry him along. Top-line brewery shares with their 6 per cent to 61 per cent yields and excellent asset backing are worth look- ing at.
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