The sun., 1918-07-16
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Timid Traders Liquidate Scat
tered Professional Accounts
on Receipt of War News.
EARLY LOSSES RECLAIMED
Trading Small and Of Slight
Significance-Money
Situation Quiet.

An inference might readily have been
drawn from yesterdays stock market
that the financial district saw reason for
alarm in the renewal of the German Of
fensive. A more careful attention to the
facts. however. would indicate that the
selling prompted by the announcement Of
Germany's latest onslaught represented
nothing moro than the liquidation OF
scattered professional accounts by timid
traders who desired to rid themselves OF
stocks until speculative Wall Street has
had opportunity to Judge the scope OF
the new drive. Trading was entirely too
small to have much Significance. and al
though losses at the outset were rather
large. the ease with which prices recov-
cred in the afternoon testified beyond all
doubt as to the confidence which the Sc
curities market has in the ability Of the
allied forces to withstand the effect OF
the offensive. While confidence was not
restored entirely, nor Is that likely SO
long as there Is the slightest deubt as TO
the outcome of the battle. there was Tar
less apprehension concerning the strug-
gle than on any previous occasion. and
the Street in general. was disposed to
take a favorable view OF what Is thus far
known OF the frst days results
As q matter of fact, the action Of the
market was exactly in line with what
had been expected. The fact that the
process Of preparing tho market for the
new German drive last week had not
been carried as far as some Of the most
conservative Wall Street interests had
expected led to the expectation Of fur
Their preparations yesterday. With the
drive itself as incentive, the result. OF
course. was the same. The only diff
ference was that the preparations were
carried out a little faster than under or
binary circumstances. In consequence,
most OF the weak accounts were shaken
out early in the day, and the firmer tone
In the afternoon testified that the inside
position of the'market had been strength
ened Appreciably to Withstand whatever
temporary successes the Germans may
be able to gain during the first two or
three days of the battle. In fact. the
action Of the market In the last hour
clearly indicated that IL there Is to be
any further yielding of ground market
wise as a result of the offensive. the
Germans will have to gain far greater
results than they have heretofore to
shake the confidence Of the financial
district to a point where 1t will influence
wholesale selling OF securities. From a
purely speculative viewpoint. there was
also some relief because Of the renewal
OF the offensive. This was particularly
apparent among the professional traders.
whose plans have been held In check
because Of the uncertainty of the war
situation.
All other considerations were side
tracked Of course for the war news.
From the first this consideration was
the all determining factor in the mar
ket. Prices at the outset broke from
1 to points in extreme cases ON a
fairly liberal volume Of business. but as
soon as the odds and ends Of liquidation
had been accomplished the general mar
ket quoted down materially and prices
steadied all through the active list
the trend OF most de-
partments. however. there were one or
two strong spots among the speclalties
Corn Products held up well all morning
and when buying for the long account
was resumed on the news that the
Americans and French were holding as
well as could be expected. this issue
gained appreciably. In fact the great
majority OF standard issues recovered
parts OF their early losses.
Steel closed at 103A. as compared with
a low OF 1919. and equally as important
recoveries were made all through the
Industrial department. The rails did
very little with the exception of one or
two shares of the type OF Reading.
yielding slightly in the morning and
then recovering practically all OF their
declines. as did the greater number OF
specialties and Individual shares.
There was very little change in the
money situation. Call loans continued
to be made at from 6 to 6h per cent,
but In this connection 1t was learned
that the so-called money committee OF
the Liberty Loan has practically taken
over control of the market; that IL TO
say, the banks will hereafter make all
loans through this committee with
view OF seeing more equal distribution
Of funds, as we'll as seeing that require
ments are fairly met. The foreign ex-
market was quiet, with rates
about unchanged from last weeks clos