Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-19
STOCKS STRONG
TN DULL MARKET;
NEW HAVEN LEADER
Dealings Principally in Spe-
cialties and the Supply
Appeared to Be Small.
American Beet Sugar Up.

NEW YORK, Dec 1s.-The stock mar
ket opened strong, with prices generally
fractlonally up. AS the day advanced
securities gained further strength. indi-
eating the favorable effect Of the Com
meroe Commissions decision In the
freight rate case Dealings, however
were principally In specialties, and the
market was not active at any time. The
supply of stocks in many places seemed
to be scant.
AS was the case in the late trading
yesterday, New Haven led the market
on the advance, going to es, up i7s hoh' %
the closing last night At the close the
price reacted a to 5ss. The strength In
this stock was due directly to the de-
cislon in the freight rate case. as this
road will probably receive\ greater ben
eft from Il than any other road. The
whole railroad list, in fact, was strong,
Reading, which has been the market
leader recently, regained some of It's
loss In yesterdays early trading Penn
aylvania, Baltimore and Ohio and Erie
common and FIRST preferred were also
higher.
ON a few buying orders Canadian
Pacific rose q point. The road is
not directly benefited by the rate de-
oisIon, yet the effect on that development
on European sentiment has been good,
and the prospects are that II VIII lead
to a better demand for Issues favored
by foreign investors, Of which Canadian
Pacific Is one.
Favorable comment on the rate de-
cision was heard throughout the street.
Tho belief was expressed that more bene-
ht will be derived than railroad managers
seemed disposed to admit. 1t should GER
talnly help business, in that the rail-
roads will now probably place many or
ders, especially for steel goods, that they
have been holding in allegiance. The plac-
ing of steel orders will help the Steel
Corporation materially, steel today gained
"a by going up to 511b, compared with
5O1k at the close yesterday. The closing
price was 50%.
Holders of Baltimore and Ohio now see
n fighting chance for the maintenance OF
the company's per cent. dividend be-
cause of the rate decision. Action on the
dividend will be taken this month The
stock was up Il at 7Ols.
A feature in the trading was American
Beet Sugar which gained rapidly from
the opening until 1t reached 31h. up rs.
The stock closed at 3l1S, up y. The
rise was based on large earnings. The
statement was made that the company
is earning at the rate of per cent. on
the common stock at present
Commission honses were the largest
buyers and their orders came prin-
cipally from small customers. This
demand, however, was more than suf-
ficient to absorb the scattered offerings.
In addition to the rate decision the
market had for n bull factor the In
creased supply of money. Four months
and I'VE months money has been placed
on all industrials at per cent. and lend
ers are perfectly satisfied to place their
funds I'm that way. This seems to be
the onlv class of borrowing now to be
reached.
Foreign exchange made further
movement in favor of this country, sight
sterling selling at 1865, the lowest since
last June. and for the first time in
months bringing sterling exchange to
below the par of 4s666 for the pound
sterling.