The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1908-03-03
WALL STREET NOTES
Union Pacific Has Traders on
Exchange Guessing.
BUYERS ARE ALWAYS FOUND
stock Now Sticks Pretty Close to
Level OF 1I3, Established on Feb
support" - Pennsylvania, While
Showing Decrease, Saves Expenses.

New York. March 2-On February 10,
Union Pacific sold down 10 1l9, a decline
Of l55-s points from the high OF jan
uary Is.
Since February 10, the stock has shown
a disposition to stick pretty closely TO the
level then established. At that time, the
price included the dividend. The lowest
figure since touched. with the dividend in
cluded IN the price. was III rs. recorded
on February II. and the lowest with the
dividend deducted was 10 1-2, and to-day,
exactly the equivalent of ll3 with the
dividend on.
A trader, commenting on this close ad-
herence 10 fixed level. says:
1T looks as if quiet accumulation OF
Union Pacific is in progress. There may
be lot Of bad news 10 come out, but
from the action of the stock. I would
say that has been discounted. Somebody
takes the stock al the level CT about
10 II ex-dividend. ] have heard Il said
that the buying met with there IS sup
port but 1 have seldom seen support so
consistently rendered at one price. If the
stock sagged. I would accept a theory OF
that kind, but when ] see what is called
support effective IN holding the price, I
cannot help thinking it is buying OF a
really pressing kind"
The latest bear story about Union
Pacific is that the company IS really short
OF working capital and that il would
have been forced TO do some financing be-
fore this time had not one Of the directors
come 10 its aid with 100000 OF his own
funds.
One OF the mysteries Of Wall street
which no one has ever lived long enough
TO penetrate is that all the news is good
when stocks are up and bad when stocks
are down. Another which promises 20 be-
come equally impenetrable IS where the
stocks are held.
This was as deep in Union Pacific when
the price was 49, as II is now that the
quotation IS s. points lower Time has
shown. however. that the stock was 10,
In strong hands at the high level. and
perhaps only time will show whether the
present holders are strong or otherwise.
Around II o'clock Amalgamated Copper
was quoted at 81, American Smelling and
Refining at 50, and National Lead at a.
These are the most important stocks in
the metal group" and their prices do
not correspond 10 the difference in their
dividend rates. Amalgamated Copper
pays ? per cent a year. American Smelt-
ing and Refining has Just gone on a 4 per
cent basis. while National Lead only a
few days ago reafirmed its per cent
rate. The stock that pays the highest
dividend rate was, therefore. selling at
The lowest price. and il was hardly to be
expected that such a favorable specula-
tive opportunity as was afforded IN
"eQualizing" it TO the others would be al
lowed 10 slip.
BY the tine the market closed an ad-
vance Of 3ls points was scored. but even
then the bulls would not aduH that q
proper equality had been struck.
AS rule. brokers were inclined 70 re-
gard the earnings for January Of Penn
sylvania and ether large systems as
rather encouraging In view OF the reia-
lively smaller decreases In net than IN
gross. Pennsylvania. for instance. while
about S2.o00O00 behind last year in gross.
saved about two-thirds Of this I'm operat-
ing expenses. \ normal rate Of saving
would have been about one-third.