The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-09
WALL STREET NOTES
Hill Stocks Lead Rally After
Showing FirmnesS.
ALL BULL TIPS ON U. P. FAIL


ised Attack on steel Comes, but
Preferred Holds Up WelI-Heavy
Selling of PennSy Disquietins.
New York, March S.-The Hill stocks,
which for nearly d week had displayed no
able frmness. were but little affected by
he demoralized conditions that prevailed
n the general market in the first hour,
md led the rally which occurred about
loon. Northern Pacific was much more
active than Great Northern, and was
.ushed I'D about three points in a few
from the low point of the day,
he specialist actively bidding for it ap-
,arentIy more for the possible advance in
he price than Of getting stock
In some quarters it was thought that
his operator had received his orders from
some large interest that was anxious TO
the effect of sentiment on the
continued liquidation in other stocks, and
rs this was the first evidence of anything
ike aggressive support that had been wit
messed in several days. some of the shorts
,ame TO the conclusion that the time for
covering had come and acted accordingly.
H. however the strength in Northern Pa
.ific was really intended as an anchor for
he general market, it utterly failed 10
serve its purpose.
The bull tips on Union Pacific dis
-ributed on Thursday had an effect the
reverse of what their promulgators in
tended. These parties had known in ad-
vance that the earnings would make a
favorable showing and assumed that the
force Of this as a bun argument would
be sufficient 10 turn the stock so strongly
upward that it could about duplicate the
Of Reading on the preceding
lay. What really happened was that the
formation of a weak bull account was so
Induced that Union Pacific became one of
the most vulnerable stocks in the entire
list. The bears were not slow To recOg-
lize this fact and 20 drive "A vigorous at
tack on what they rightly concluded was
one OF the points of least resistance. They
knew there We're speculative lines that
could be- shaken out. and utilized this
knowledge with "a degree OF success that
must have surprised even themselves, for
the price fell 10 the level around which
Il hung in the early months of last gear.
six months before the dividend was in
creased 10 10 per cent, and while the stock
was still on "a per cent basis some timid
lr weakly margined longs tumbled over
Jne another To get out Of the stock.
and it was hardly to be wondered at that
the great volume Of Liquidation gave rise
10 rumOT that the government was
about 10 take steps TO dissolve the HaTri-
man combination. Some reason had to be
found TO account for what was passing IN
the stock and this one easily suggested
Itself, although probably the real cause
Of the trouble was not in Washington,
but IN the market.
So many traders had for a long time
the idea that If Union Pacific
should sell as low as 160 ex-diyidend. !t
would look very cheap there, that il was
no wonder stop orders were met with IA
quantity when that figure was reached
There seemed 10 be hardly any limit 10
the volume Of the bull stop loss orders
and the execution of them contributed
greatly to the condition Of semi-demOral-
zati0n IN the stock On the break many
of the shorts covered and others did like
wise when the specialist came in as a
heavy buyer and started a rally in the
second hour. As a market factor the d.
crease of the short interest more than
offset the reduction in the size Of the
weak bull account, and as far as the tech
lical position was concerned the stock
was IN particularly bad shape to with
stand the forward attack on the market
which came in the afternoon.
The promised attack on Steel was made
on time, but while there was no effort to
support the common. there was market
for any quantity of the preferred at
about par. The bears on the stock tried
TO make capital out Of the Hartman in
terview. in which the president of the
Union Pacific had expressed the opinion
that cancellation orders must come in the
steel business, without. however, saying
whether he thought this would occur
within the lifetime Of any one now living
or not Those with good memories re-
membeTed that officials of the Steel Cor
pOration had recently given assurances
that the outlook for the steel business
was bright, and having confidence in the
knowledge and truthfulneSs of these gen
tlcmen. were prepared TO abide by what
they said about the situation. Their. is
good reason to believe that buying cf a
significant character has occurred in
United States Steel recently, the volume
as the price went down.
At the time when comment Of the ac-
ton OF Southern Railway directors was
expected. the attack on United States
Steel was renewed, and the price fell
sharply. with a notable absence Of any
thing like organized support. The bears
seemed TO throw all their strength against
this stock as might have been expected.
since the Importance which they attached
to a severe decline in it had been clearly
foreshad0wed by the tip circulated on
Thursday that the stock would be made
so weak as 20 render the position of the
bulls very uncomfortable all through the
market Not a few shrewd operators ex-
pressed the belief that the attack on
Steel was what the bear clique had held
in reserve for use when the time came to
cover shorts.
Heavy selling of Pennsylvania naturally
had disquieting effect, the more so as it
was supposed that the strength in Read
ing foreshadowed a movement in Penn
sylvania and the stocks of other Eastern
lines in which Mr.. Frick is supposed to
ne interested. Pennsylvania was thrown
upon the market in heavy volume, some
Of the individual transactions being I'M
usually large, and there was little evil
denCe Of any real support.
While there was undoubtedly heavy
liquidation in the market, there can be lit
tie doubt that "A large part of the selling
represented bearish operations. The orders
were so evenly distributed as to afford
strong circumstantial evidence that great
as the amount of liquidation unquestion-
ably was, bear selling was greater still
The former was caused largely by the