The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-12-05
MARKET CONDITIONS
NOT SATISF ACTORY
Wall Street Taking More
Cheerful View, But Trad
erS Are Skeptical.

/ - - - ~ Il NA~stAs
NEW YORK, Dec. 5.-WaH Street is |
not out of the woods as yet. but 1t is
/ feeling more cheerful and is looking |
| forward to a bull market with the com /
/ ing Of January, when the millions Of |
/ disbursements viii be coming back
seeking Teinvestment-peIha The be- /
! lief prevails that the Presidents mes
/ sage will be 4 .n,ld document and that
/ business interests have nothing to fear !
| from the session of Congress- which |
! begins tomorrow. Nicaragua is but an |
| incident ant nothing TO be the least
| alarmed over. The switchmen's strike |
IS not considered seriously, even though !
there is danger Of its spre aiding More
] over the Street is beginning TO forget |
I for the time being. the Standard Oil
| decision. As a real matter Of fact. the
| prevailing opinion in security circles is /
| that the liquidation and the setback
| have been carried to such an extent that
nothing would force IT much lower.
There is yet another influence back Of
| the market and that is the belief that
| J. Pierpont Morgan is TO become the
! leader Of the bulls. and that his pur-
chase Of the Equitable Assurance So
|
/ war necessary 10 play hob with the
/ bears-ot whom lhere are many.
J So far as information goes the re-
/ ported purchase Of the Equitable is not
well founded. Some stock has been
bought from Mr. Ryan, and It is cob
able that more will be. Should Mr. Nor
| gan get the control Of this great so
| clety and It's immense assets il NAV be
for the purpose of turning it over 10 the
officials thereof, otherwise the public
service board might have something to
say concerning the movement II will be
| readily recalled that L. H Hartman
was especially sore at Mr.. Ryan's OBJ
tanning control Of association at the
time Of the Hyde-AIexander troubles
It is announced that the standard Oil
Company was a bidder for the Ryan
holdings, before the reported sale to
Mr. Morgan, but their bid was probably
put in before the now famous decision.
which, II sustained, viii keep tn Off
Gals Of that corporation busy finding
a way out.
Few Active Stocks.
The bulk OF the activit, IL the list
IS confined to comparatively few stocks,
! while the rest of the list moves slowly
and sDasmodically. one stock coming to
the front one day and another the next.
The leaders have been Reading, which
for ten days or even longer has been
the handspring Of the market and an
erratic one, at that. going of two or
! three points and coming back with the
regularity Ct clockwork, when the short
sellers tried TO cover their contracts
so that the short lire in this one stock
Is very large. II is difficult TO under
stand why Reading, a per cent divi-
dend payer has any right to be flirt-
ing with 10, save on the theory Of a
Z melon ripening or a big dividend in
crease coming. That II will not go of
other than 10 come back. Is an addi-
tiOnal evidence that something is COM
ing.
Weakness In Hills Over.
For weeks the IIiu shares have been
a drag and a menace to the market
Their weakness, even in strength, has
checked many a well started advance.
No one appeared to know why. other
than the usual pessimistfc utterances
from ]. ]. Hill. while part Of the Hdui-
datiOn was due to sales for the Harri-
man estate The fear that the Ken
nedy estate would have thousands Of
/ shares 70 sell was also a drag on the
list, and the bears took 10 playing with
/ It. breaking the shares over u points
In the last few weeks. The price Of
these stocks is row at a level wnere an
/ investor ought 70 be able to sccumu-
late z per cent shares without much
fear. This is the feeling Of the Street
toward these stocks, and II there IS ad-
ditional liquidation, it viii be taken
without much further recession.
The worst feature Of the market at
this time is found in the lack Of public
interest Even the reaction has not
1 brought the speculative element into
the market. Room traders gather in
their accustomed places, watch the
course Of the market discuss condi-
tons, and occasionally take a flyer, but
always with protection i'm stop loss
orders, and the Earnering of profits
whenever they show up.
II is plain that the large owaers Of
stocks are still holding the bag. that
they nave not succeeded in disposing
of their securities and taking thcir
profits. The fear OF some pool selling
out is always present. The heavy
short interest Is IN measure. a pro-
lection against any serious decline. and
at lower prices and II is also an incen-
tive TO the leaders 20 run them in every
little while.
The Brighter Side.
Looking over the brighter side, one
finds all conditions in business way
full Of promise. Manufacturing energy
IS employed 10 its fullest, save where
raw material deficiency is causing some
shut-downs IN cotton mills; railroad i'm
prOvements and building are going On
1T Quickcning pace. equipment coruol-
! atoms are us busy as bees iu summer
CleaTngs are heavy. The publication
Of Tho statistics Of the Agricultural De
partmcnt helped the list somewhat
but-all these things were Glrcountcd
in the big rise.
Hawley Looming Up.
Mr.. Hawley begins to loom up on the
railroad map larger than ever before
Perhaps the Sherman law may be a
break on acquisition and combination