The sun., 1918-09-07
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Another Warming Against I'm
due Speculation Influences
Stock Trading.
DECLINES IN FEW ISSUES
DECLINES IN FEW ISSUES
Professional Selling Heavy
General List Closes Fairly
Strong Throughout.

Ahc ACCOMPLISHMENTS VI
tive measures with respect to limiting
the amount Of money available for spec
ulative purposes was the overshadowing
influence on the Stock Exchange yester-
day The admission that such steps had
become necessary would have unsettled
the market on any occasion. but consid-
erlng the Importance of the action the
market did extremely well. Large de-
clines were limited to a comparatively
few issues. Notwithstanding increased
volume OF business and rather heavy
professional selling at various times.
Jus. why. however, Wall Street should
become alarmed at this particular time
was not clear. to say the least. There
had been plenty of warning of what
might happen in case speculative en-
thusiasm 1overstepped certain bounds.
and 1t would be telling no secret to say
that large part OF the financial COM
munity believed this inevitable. What
ever the reason, the announcement nc
doubt was as much the. accidental as II
was the real cause of the selling. AT
any rate a reaction had been long over
due.
This view was substantiated In part
by the manner in which the market re.
bounded at the closing after the most
important selling had run It's course
As 1t was, the general list closed fairly
strong all around, with majority of the
standard shares considerably above the
low Of the day. So far as the general
market was concerned 1t was also evil
dent from the character OF the trading
that about the worst Of the liquidation
occasioned by the announcement bad beer
accomplished. Whether or not this the
DRY is correct second consideration OF
action on part OF the exchange failed to
reveal any disposition among the specu-
lative fraternity to believe that the mar
ket would be much worse off under the
new conditions than 1t has been in the
immediate past. Business has been re-
stricted for more than two months. and
whether or not local money authorities
saw Mt to enact restrictions it is the
opinion of important interests. and In
fact has been for some time back. thai
there could be no wide market so long
as there was any doubt as to the money
situation. So far as its effect on the
market in the future Is concerned II II
not expected to alter it greatly from the
past two or three weeks. The only
thing 1t Is expected to do Is to keeI
speculation within these bounds and tC
increase investment buying.
With a large part Of the Street abb
sorbed in discussing the new money re-
strictions it was not to be expected that
the approval OF the rental contract not
only by the Director General but by the
railway executives themselves would find
reflection in the security list. However
an illustration OF what might have hap
~ -
ject not been interrupted was given In
the case Of one or two Of the low priced
rails. notably New Haven and st. Paul
The latter sold up to 81. a gain Of two
points and a new high for the year,
while the former was strong throughout
the trading. AS for the Industrial shares,
they were entirely under the influence of
the selling occasioned by the money sit
uation. except in the last few minutes,
when they recovered somewhat from the
;ow Steel common bore tine brunt Of the
selling. as 1t did on Thursday and the
day before. breaking to within fraction
of 10, nearly six points from the high
touched in the enthusiastic last hour of
Tuesdays session. There were minor
losses in most OF the industrials and the
standard rails, but aside from Steel de-
clines were not quite as extensive except
in case Of special issues.
There was no change in the money
situation. Call loans continued to be
quoted at from 6 to 6ly per cent. Time
money was nominal at per cent There
was very little of interest in the foreign
exchange situation. although for the
most part rates presented a slightly
easier aspect. Francs yielded slightly
Swiss francs and pesetas did likewise
Scandinavian rates. however. showed
some flrmness. Corn and grain were
strong. Cotton recovered from yester-
days shock which came with the an
nouncement of steps taken toward regu-
lating the price OF the staple and recov-
cred about third OF its losses.