FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
By CUSTOS To judge from the turnover in the stock markets—the falling-off cannot be wholly explained by holiday influences—most investors have decided to keep a watching brief on political events. As I suggested last week, however, a change in the pattern of price movements is becoming discernible. On the one hand, gilt-edged stocks and, in minor degree, gold shares are showing signs of recovery. On the other, commodity shares, and to a lesser extent industrial equity shares, are slipping back. These are the first and, so far, tentative reactions to the increasing prospect of an early Korean peace. The gilt-edged improvement may well continue for a little time—the previous fall had been very heavy indeed—but I doubt whether the fall in commodity shares and industrial ordinaries will go much farther. After all, rearmament demands should continue at a high level and com- modity shares, at best, are already well below their peaks.
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