The sun., 1919-09-19
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Trading Narrows Further and
Professionals Are Moro
In Evidence.
SAG COMES BEFORE END
General List Is Very Irregular,
With Steel Common the
Weakest Stock.
SAG COMES BEFORE END

4
lative conditions In Wall Street yester-
day. Trading contracted stili further
and professional operations were some
what more pronounced than heretofore.
but aside from this II was much the
same kind of a market which Wall
Street has been experiencing for the last
week or more. The main point Of In
terest, Of course, In the trading was as
10 how the Street would take the definite
announcement that the steel men had
decided to strike next Monday. This
came Immediately after the opening and
had been expected to cause o very sharp
drop in prices, but, as It turned out,
nothing moro important took place than
professional selling. The market held
I'D well under this pressure during the
best part of the forenoon. but later In
the day sagged of under a small volume
OF dealings. Outside of this the market
did extremely well considering the news
with which It was confronted and the
lack of initiative on the part of those
who had taken a position on the con-
structive side.
AS a matter of fact the market did
precisely what experienced observers
had expected. There were those who
had figured out that the definite an
nouncement would be the signal for an
other sharp selling movement. but the
public had 50 thoroughly liquidated its
holdings previously that all that re-
NAMED yesterday was the usual amount
of short selling which always follows
development of this character In the
hope of inducing timid people TO part
with their holdings. II this was the pur-
pose of yesterdays selling II was not at
all successful, for aside from few spe-
cial issues. which recovered part of their
losses In the last few minutes. practi-
cally no real stocks ut all were brought
out yesterday. As to the announcement
of the steel strike itself this created no
surprise one way or the other. The
whole thing had been discounted pre-
viously, but strange as 1t may seem
there were still those who believed that
President Wilson would intervene at the
last moment to bring about a postpone
lment OF the strike until after the big
conference In Washington next month.
This Is only q vague possibility, but
there is still enough uncertainty In the
situation to keep Wall Street in an IN
certain state of mind about the whole
situation
Under the circumstances, therefore,
the share list was very irregular again.
The principal weakness was in Steel
common. which got down within n point
or so of par. The other steel shares and
standard issues declined sympathetically,
but all Of them were heavily sold by the
professionals during the best part of the
Afternoon. This weakness, however, was
not due to any real liquidation, as was
evidenced from the manner in which
some issues recovered their losses In the
last hour under the influence Of short
covering and investment buying. De-
ispite the weakness of the general mar
ket there were still a number OF special
stocks which stood out prominently all
day for their strength. The tobacco
stocks were particularly strong features
again. American Tobacco made an
other spectacular advance right on tor
of its sensational advance on Tuesday
and American Sumatra, Retail Stores
) and Tobacco Products all gained sharp
ly, although nothing like some of the
higher priced issues did. But perhaps
the strongest stock of all was American
Snuf. On q comparatively small vol
ume Of transactions the stock rose tc
14o. n gain OF more than 10 points, but
lost about 10 points of this later on.
There Is no change in money condi
tons. Call money was easy all day
that Is to say until the closing, wheI
the rate jumped back to 6 Bee cent Thil
was nothing more. however, than 6
furry. which Is expected 10 be corrected
Immediately upon resumption Of bust
ness to-day, for actually the banks ar,
In a very easy position as respect
money. The money paid out In taxe
during the first part of the week IL nov
returning, end II is not anticipated tina
any difficulty will be experienced In thi
direction for some time to come tn,
foreign exchange market continued firm
under the covering operations that be
gan with the last hour OF business on tn
preceding day. As was pointed out
these operations have no special signifi
canoe. nor are they expected to checl
. definitely the downward trend OF the ex
change market. The weekly statemen
1 Of the Bank of England disclosed pro
/ portion of reserve to liabilities of q
per cent. against 22.S0 per cent las
n week