The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-08-07
WALL STREET NOTES
Standard Oil Stocks for Once
Badly Depressed.
PRICES NEAR MARCH RECORD
One-fOurth of Entire Days Transac-
tiOns Are Sales of Hartman stocks.
Reading steel Common and Snle /
tex shares Also Sell Heavily-Mar-
ket Is Left in Weak Condition.

New York, Aug. 6.-The market was
! largely a Standard Oil market again yes
| terday. though by no means the kind Of
market that long custom has associated
1 with the name.
in the past the Standard OIL market has
been buoyant, assertive. and aggressive.
/ Traders going short of It did so with eau
ton and trepidation. and holding them
selves ready to cover at an instants
notice.
| To-day's market was a complete antith-
| esis Of these characteristics. II was de-
! pressed rather than buoyant, and dis
/ played e constant inclination 10 give way
and yield rather than show qualities Of
/ assertiveness and aggressiveness. Also,
/ traders sold it. confidently and with the
seeming assurance that if they did not
have the support of the Standard oil
party in a campaign for lower prices they
at least had nothing TO fear In the way Of
encountering resistance from it.
The street was bearish, with an even
closer approach to unanimity than on the
previous day. Prices of many shares
We're close to the lowest of thhe March
panic, but not bargain-hunter was to be
seen. Total transactions were In excess
of 10000 shares, more than double the
volume Of the previous days business.
More than 22500 of them We're In the
Hartman stocks, market leaders in the
decline as they were in the advance. In
Reading the transactions. half shares,
amounted to l62, 40. There We're sales of
about 5000 Steel common, 1890 Shelters.
and $1,000 St. Paul Every other stock
10 which speculative interest attaches
was active and IN the aggregate trading
was keeneT than on any previous day In
many weeks. An outburst Of activity In
q declining market is agreeable 10 the
bears, as dullness on reactions Of an ad-
vancing market is TO the bulls.
New York Central and Pennsylvania
held better than any Of the other active
rails. Pennsylvania, during part OF the
session, sold well above the Mondays
closing. and Central closed and opened at
the same price. There was a slight frac-
.ional gain in the former and "A slight
fractional loss in the latter. II there was
any truth at all in reports OF selling by
y
that fnancier was not selling Pennsylya-
MIA. in which he is the largest stockhold-
er Generally. Il was voted relief 70
note that the staid old investors IN these
standard stocks were not frightened, how
ever much the feelings Of others may
have been upset by recent developments.
A sale of Anaconda at 30 81 established
q new low record for two years Anal
gamated sold down TO so is. as compared
with a low price Of IS - on March j.
SHELTERS showed d corresponding weak
ness. selling at one time within / 5-S points
of the low tl04 Id Of the March decline
There were no new developments in the
copper metal situation, and traders said
there was no need Of bringing mp any
new developments. Stop-loss orders.
which We're caught IN quantities salts
factory 20 the most aggressive bear. SUI
feed for the purpose OF the day. Mixed
in with other transactions IN Inter-MetrO-
politan preferred were several sales Of
ordered lots, which probably represented
investment selling. The common and the
preferred made new low records at "a II
and 20 81. respectively.
Half an hour before the close the de-
cline having been practically continuous
up 20 that time, traders tested the mar
ket by a large amount Of short covering |
Prices for a time move upward rather
briskly, but throughout the brief rally
no one experienced any great difficulty in
getting his stocks back, and the ma
jority voted that II was too early 10 !
cash IN. What covering was done. left |
the market weaker than before and IN the |
late trading offerings of stocks brought |
out in many shares the low prices Of the /
day. The close was weak and a bit /
feverish
The engagement of $4,000 in gold coin /
for shipment to Holland was entirely un- |
expected. but because it was a special /
transaction had little market effect.
II is the opinion Of many prominent /
bond dealers that the various recent anti
corporation proceedings are responsible 1
for the loss Of the Improvement which 1
was beginning TO show in bonds and /
shOrt-term notes. The market for both I
has been dead this week Apparentlv.
bond men say, investors fear the effect /
of the corporation batting on bonds as
well as stocks, and argue that all Sc
curity investments are inadvisable until /
the fire runs its course. At any rate.
there has been a complete subsistence of
the activity in the bond and short-tern
note markets and the coincidence Is