The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-08-06
MARKET FEELS TREND
Of PRICE BET1ERME Mt

New York. August after very
f-suitory market up to shortly after
n fday STOCKS In the late trading to-
as gave indications OF the much talk
II ~ ,aras short interest. the basically
'-~and financial conditions and the
4""clopu1ent OF market affairs anftcipa
-atry To tire opening If the liberty loan
smpaiRn These Indications were re-
Nealed in a sudden sharp upturn in
.instrials accompanied by a broaden
in- OF market activity. There were
-a,ne exceptions 70 the general trend
II price bettsrment. The rails failed
respond "a the spread Of optimism
suat created carly signs Of turn in
"a. tide stock market wise. American
telegraph and Telephone was very
weak spot selling down To Sos with
a recovery 70 92z@ The inside figure
- the lowest touched by this issue
since the iso7 figure.
In the tndustrials. American Sumatra
tobacco was easily the speculative fes-
ture selling up points to 1871. one
reason for the sharp advance was
tire difficulty Of shorts In obtaining
loans OF the stock This difficulty is
further attested by a stock loantng
rate of per cent. which prevailed
after the close This Joan rate means
tina, a man who sold io0 shares Ameri-
can Sunatra that he did not own, had
TO nay s20D "a day for the privilege of
borrowing 100 shares of stock. Nstur-
ally A loan rate as high as this caused
many Of the shorts 10 cover and their
efforts. were quickly detected result
ing In the perpendicular rise.
Another reason for ascending move
nent was ramor that the American
Snmstra directors were considering
ahandinr the plan to issue more stock
md replace this project by plan TO
sell rve-yeAr per cent notes. OTf
cialS OF the American Sumtra Tobacco
company asserted there is nothing to
n. report the captal Increase plan
stiu being effective and Awaiting the
action Of the stockholders who meet
ar August 80
international Harvester responded
ttuite vigorously TO the withdrawal OF
SO appeal from the adverse decision Of
the lower court in the government anti
trust suit The stock advance "a
points TO 1919. The action OF the
entnpany In accepting the governments
,lAn for dissolution was considered AS
waking for improved conditions in ar
war trade The tendency OF the
-lst suit has always been Oppressive
fartor ard the apparent ease with
Witch the company viii be able 10
,onply with the government require
rcnts was cheering to the street
The Harvester situation caused at
tentton To he turned to United States
steel and American can. both OF which
fa' G trust suits before the courts
United states steel became very active
tawards the close. stock being bought
IN large lots and selling up TO lie
one reason for this buying is that the
steel corporation may fare even better
than the Harvester company In leaving
behind its trust litigation. The steel
corporation won rs trust suit In the
'nwer court whereas, the Harvester
company did not.
The great value OF the Steel cor
norstion as combined producing unit
has been appreciated by the govern
rnent ever since the United States en-
tered the war The trend TO amlaga-
mate all efforts as displayed by gov
eminent control Of the railroads and
wire companies. the price fixing sttua-
zion and other events contrary to the
nre-war concepts Of the government
have all tended to abate the criticism
If the steel corporation. As announce
vent by the government of the COM
piete abandonment OF its trust suit
asainst the steel corporation would not
ne in the least surprising to important
nrfaf leaders