The sun., 1919-03-23
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Following Early Rush Of Buy
I ing Market Turns Heavy
i'm Last Hour.
PRICE CHANGES MIXED
Bank Statement Shows Drop
in Surplus Reserve-Foreigh
Exchange Demoralized.
PRICE CHANGES MIXED


terday indicated that a good deal OF
stock was being pressed for sale In the
way Of realizing in consequence of Fri
days sharp uptvrn in the steel shares.
Most of this selNng was manifestly due
to the usual week end considerations
and the desire of traders not to carry
stock over a period OF suspended ANNA
ton. This feeling was further empha-
sized undoubtedly by the coming holi-
day on Tuesday. Many of the large
would be in the financial district on
Monday intend to remain away from
Wall street until the opening on
Wednesday and. not wishing to take
chances with the possibility of adverse
developments over this period, either
disposed of their holdings altogether or
protected themselves by putting out
stock against their long commitments
The result was highly mixed range Of
prices. with standard steels turning
heavy in the last hour and some OF the
specialties improving under the slim
illus of a miscellaneous assortment o?
buying.
There was no real selling pressure,
however, anywhere in evidence in the
general list, that Is to say. that could
be detected. Those who have main
tanned a bearish attitude all through
the rise still refused TO be moved from
their position: but. on the other hand,
It was equally true that the days bust
mess again amply justified those who
have been maintaining consistently
bullish attitude. particularly toward the
| steel shares. There was very little news
of a marketwise bearing-and the i'm
portant factor of the day again seemed
to be the situation created by the cut
ting OF the price of steel products The
reported increase in buying since the
announcement OF the cut in prices ere
ated an even more favorable impression
than did the actual result of the con-
ference in Washington itself and, X II
had not been for the usual week end
considerations and the coming holiday,
the market would unquestionably have
been an entirely different story. As 1t
was 1t Is held up we'll under heavy
assortment OF selling after n further
advance at the opening and. although
prices closed at about the low of the
day this was in no way allowed to in
terfere with the bullish disposition of
commission houses and traders gener-
ally.
Trading in the steel shares was gain
on an extremely heavy scale. There
were more than 100. 900 shares OF Steel
common alone turned over in the first
few minutes of business. The result Of
this rush of buying was TO put Steel
over par for the first time this year, and
incidentally establish a new high rec
ord for the year. The buying in steel
carried most OF the minor industries,
independent steels and In fact the gen.
eral list to considerably higher levels.
But after the first hour business be-
came quieter and there was dispost-
| ton to even UP commitments for over
! the week end, and miscellaneous as
| sortment OF profit taking from the long
| accounts. In the last hour the mar
| ket was heavy, and without a great deal
| Of activity, proceeded to sag to a some
what heavy closing. All OF the stock
| however was readily absorbed and
| there were sharp upturns in the midst
OF the selling. which suggested that not
| only was the selling of little conse-
quence. but that there was a steady &C
| emulation OF stocks on a scale down
| prepa ratory to continuation OF the
| rising movement this week.
The Clearing House statement disclosed
| \ decrease in surplus reserve OF s15.116.'
| go due In large part TO decrease In
| cash reserves of members with the
| Federal Reserve Bank OF New York
This amounted to SCI .o35. 900. The for
eign exchange market continued de-
moralized Sterling opened the day
| with bid prices cents lower. These
quotations. however, were merely norni-
nal, and the market was still too con-
fused by the rapidity OF recent develop
ments to present anything like a stable
aspect. Little business was done ir
other exchange. the confusion in sterling
! and francs serving to restrict business
| to a minimum What the effect of al
| this will be in the long run is not YET
| clear. nor will II be until the market
assumes n somewhat more certain
aspect. but the stock market is ap'
| parently paying no attention to II ir
| hope that some solution is being worked
out at the Peace Conference.