The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-08
GOSSIP OF WALL sTREET.


can smelling and Refining yesterday. This
stock was weak without any known cause
beyond the trits explanation offered by the
traders that there were more sellers than
@Uyers." Why there should be a p~reponder-
ance Of selling orders nobody explained. and
the absence Of runor on the point hardly
permitted acceptance OF the theory that a
bear campaign was under way in the stock.
Everything indicated that the selling was
genuine. II might be forced liquidation or
u might be only profit taking. but the appar-
ent urgency Of II indicated that II, was more
likely to be the former. The stock was i'm
pOrtant enough to make its influence felt on
the market as a whole. and this IL did TO a
very considerable degree.
As usual when Shelters declined ahAny Of
the traders sold Amalgamated Copper in the
expectation that the fate OF one member Of
the metal group would be the fate Of the
others. The latter stock. however. offered
very fair resistance until the whole market
became affected. when 10 declined proper
t~ionatsIy with the rest Of the active list. For
the greater strength in AmalRamated than
in Smelters some fanciful explanations were
offered. but probably none was needed be-
yond the self-svident one hat the selling Of
the former was not as good rs that OF the
latter. In all probability the selling Of Smelt-
es did not arise from anything in the metal
trade. but from some individual necessities
that were not a factor in the market for ANAL
gsmated.
The comparative strength Of Amalgamated
Copper was the more remarkable from the
fact that the heaviest selling Of the general
market. which gave prices their pronounced
downward tendency, was handled by brokers
who often execute orders for the Standard
Oil party and was supposed to represent
a change OF front on the part Of that interest.
The Standard Oil interest being dominant
in Amalgamated Copper the traders ex-
pected that its apparent chang OF front
would produce a greater effect in that issue
than elsewhere. but this did not prove to be
the case. and IL was suggested by way Of
explanation that possibly Copper was sup
ported for the purpose Of offsettins the effect
Of the selling at other points in the list,
Reading was the most active stock on the
list. but was at the same time one of the weak
est. The selling pressure was at times quite
heavy and at no time was the support agrees
sive. Stop orders were caught on the way
down, adding materially to the amour of
stock which had to be absorbed: and alto
Rether Reading acted as well as could have
been expected under the circumstances.
Naturally the passage Mt arms between the
president of the company and the president
Of the New York. New Haven and Hartford
reported in the morning papers did not
strengthen the confidence of speculative
holders of the stock. many Of whom threw
over their holdings. fearing that Reading in
Cured the possibility Of "a considerable loss
OF business through a break in its relations
with the New Haven.
Southern Pacific. having been pushed too
far on Friday. showed evidence of fatigue.
and while dealt in on only a moderate scale
was one of the heaviest stocks on the list.
The tip 10 buy for a movement to ~ OF above
had brought into the stock n traders long
account of the weakest kind and the effect
was plainly evident on the decline. The
probability is that Fridays upward movement
was undertaken for the sake OF the sympa-
thetic influence that might be felt by Union
Pacific. which. however, proved to be 90 very
small as TO be scarce worth the effort used to
bring il about. When this became evident
the movement TO help Union Pacific ipdi-
rectly By stimulating bullish activity in the
stock of the controlled road was refine uished
and both stocks went down together
Some OF the traders regarded It as a bad
cmen that a tip like that distributed among
the friends of Southern Pacific on Friday had
gone wrong. They had been willing to play
tips on the bull side as Ions as these made
good. but when one failed to work out all right
they became suspicious and refused 10 play
any more,
The announcement of The failure OF Whit
ney. Stephenson s Co, Of Pittsturg drew
the fAngs Of TumOr which had made the situa-
ton in that cit y the cause OF some anxiety for
several days past. This annQunCement had
been reserved until II could be accepted as
Cantamount 10 az assurance that the sltua-
ton in Piftsburg had been entirely cleared
up. Il became known as early as Monday
last that The firm would announce JUS failure
before the week ended, and when the an
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