New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-21
MARKET NEWS
AND COMMENT
Stocks Supported After
Opening Break-Sharp
Rally Follows.


With overnight confirmation OF the
loss Of life on the Arabic and APP
parently of the death Of Americans in
particular. the stock market broke
sharply at the opening yesterday. The
decline continued for about quarter
Of an hour, in the course of which
losses of from ! TO 7ls points were re-
corded by the most active issues, the
average being about 2i9 points. Sun
porting orders were promptly forth
coming, both from important banking
interests and from the pools which
have had the interests of the war
specialties most at heart, and a rally
Of no mean proportions set in. There
was further selling in the middle of
the day. but the strong resistance
shown after the air had been cleared
in the early trading was always mani
fest, and at the end Of the session the
tone was firm.
Some Of the more notable losses in
the opening break were marked against
Goodrich, Beet Sugar, Can and SINH
lar specialties which have been espe-
cial trading favorites in the last few
weeks. Steel common, too, was com
paratively hard hit. At the opening
5000 shares were grouped from 70 to
70, a loss overnight of from la to pa
points. Seventy-two, however, was
never touched again in the trading
nor even neared, the stock ruling for
most of the day around 70 and in the
late trading rising a point more. II
closed at 1874, with a net loss of just
a point. Banking interests were re-
ported to have been heavy purchasers
of the stock in the early decline.
Almost none of the losses in the &C
tive list of stocks ran much beyond a
point as the result of the days trad
ing, and in a few cases there were
actually gains. Tennessee Copper was
one Of these exceptions and Anaconda
another, the former coming through
with a gain Of 2h points and the lat
ter with a gain of Is. In fact, the
copper stocks generally were relatively
and actually strong, notwithstanding
the uncertain market for the metal
both here and abroad.
The trading community was not dis
posed to think too little Of the tor
pedoing of the Arabic, sunk as that
vessel was without warning, IN the
most brutal manner, the incident com
ing apparently as Germany's reply TO
President Wilson's note. But there
was some question of whether the act,
upon investigation, would BE found
within the category of what the Prcsl-
dent described as deliberately UNI
friendly" acts. 1t was not known until
fairly late in the day that the Arabic
had been accompanied for some dis
lance on her way by a convoy OF Brit
ish war vessels, so that any point OF
mitigation that might lie in that fact
could not have been an influence IN
rallying stock prices after the opening
break. War. il was felt, had been
brought nearer than at any other time
since the submarines began their So
called blockade" of the British Isles.
Nevertheless, there had been more than
enough provocation on other occasions
for the United States to so to war,
but it had always been ignored in that
respect. What had been done before
would probably be done again, the
speculative community argued. AT any
rate. more was to be gained by mi
tating the administration and waiting
for facts than by precipitate action.
Though the Arabic was the most
engrossing topic of the traders, the
changes in the war situation were not
lost sight of. The reported German
capture of the important fortress OF
Novo Georgievsk, however, was held
to be more than overbalanced by the
evidences that Bulgaria was about to
enter the war with an immediate at
tack on Turkey, TO be followed prob
ably by Rumania and Greece.
The foreign exchange situation was
not changed, except for the better.
There were more definite reports from
London that a deputation Of bankers
would shortly visit the United States
to arrange a British credit