The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-21
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
stock Market Again Gives Re-
markable Exhibition Of Tn
DERIVING Strength.
SELLING AT THE OPENING

Again the stock market gave . re-
markable exhibition NJ underlying
strength. It's composure was an even
more striking performance than its sc-
ton OF Thursday. inasmuch as the later
dispatches practically destroyed the
ardent hopes OF a large part OF the spec
ula element that ~extenuating circum-
stances might be found which would put
the incident In a less serious light.
There was. heavy selling at the opening
and iquidatlng sales went on more or
less steadily throughout The session.
hui prices declined only moderately. all
things considered. and the overshadow-
ing feature was the broad buying move
ment that developed. In other words,
while the news bureaus were reporting
that Washington was "~shudder!ny over
the possible consequences" the nancl
district and the stock market were
quietly going about their business with
ont a suggestion OF panlcky feela"g at
any time. 1t Is not necessary to point
out that the behavior of the stock mar
ket In this crisis Is OF tremendous sig
nificance as bearing upon the whole
speculative and financial position.
The resistance opposed by prices TO
a general selling movement that de-
veloped at the opening was a revelation
I, the financial district. \ Hood OF
liquidation OF weak accounts accumu-
lated overnight and sales by sp~eculators
for the decline were also large. But
! surprisingly heavy buying also made Its
appearance and the declines scored were
in all instances comparatively slight.
The market seesawed back and forth
| during the rest OF the day. closing
strong and at a good recovery from the
low Undoubtedly the discovery Al the
| start that there was an excellent market
for stocks encouraged tinid SPECTATORS
and thus had an effect upon the whole
course OF the market. 1t is Easy 20
ascribe the early buyi.g to supporting
orders made with design and to assume
! that this factor saved the market irIan
a bad smash. But supporting orders
could not have held prices up by main
force II the public as a whole. or even
a large part Of IL. had been seized WIN
panic and rushed to sell. Tne ACTON
OF the industrial list In particular was
| mos. encouraging. because OF frequeh
criticism OF the activities in this quar-
ter. Instead OF the wide ope" breaks
| predicted, however, these stocks gave an
excellent account OF themselves
The underlying strength of the market
in the face of the sensational neWs OF
| ire sinking OF the Arabic may be ac-
| counted for in two ways In the nrs'
Mace the speculative position was UNI
do,btedly in far better shape than the
street generally imagined. In TINS con-
| nection il was to be that IN
| the pas; week or 20 there have been sew
| ,ral brief spasms OF akin whlcn
were calculated to put the speculative
account in a good position. Market
sentiment was by no means one sided.
Frequent admonitions TO- caution IN
speculatiye dealings had led to a general
raising OF margin requirements. Inc
| collapse OF & furious upswing In Crucioie
| Steel. All!s- Chalmers and Studebaker a
few DAYS previously had remove weak
spots from the speculative account. In
! the second place the confidence or the
nublic In general in the future OF the
| market and Of the country has once
more been exempliied. The public has
b.en behind the movement In prices and
the public has persistently refused to
sell. Ii is not unlikely that the uncer-
~tainties raised by the sinking OF the
Arabic are far less disturbing to the
public mind than in thu case Of the l.usi-
ianIa, even II the present incident raises
the question in real earnest whether this
country can continue TO maintain rela-
\ tions with Germany. TIE composure OF
thu speculating and investing public,
confronted with this possibility. may
mean that the adverse consequences OF a
severance OF relations have already been
reviewed and that nothing Is seen In
them to impair confidence in the growing
prosperity of this country.