The sun., 1919-03-18
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Trading i'm Stocks Continues
Observation-Disclosures
by Specialties.
SENTIMENT IS IMPROVED
Fresh Selling Of Steel Shares
Has No Effect on Balance
of List.
SENTIMENT IS IMPROVED

Trading was maintained on the Stock
Exchange yesterday on an undiminished
scale. with speclaltles continuing as the
features Of the session. Those shares
continued to gain ground In spite of the
heaviness OF the general market-and,
with very few exceptions, the closing Wit
messed a further important change in
the price level There was no real
weakness in the general list. however,
and the course of prices again seemed
| to be In the main the result Of pfofit
taking and a miscellaneous liquidation Of
long accounts on part OF traders who had
neglected to do SO last week while the
| market was discounting the new price
level. The weakness of the standard
shares was not at all significant. and
the manner in which many of the
specialties OF the type of Sinclair OIL,
| the equipments, Harvester shares and
some Of the motors moved forward
| showed plainly that the cleaning out
which tho rest of the market has ex-
perienced had in no way changed the
| optimistic temper of the brokerage COM
munity.
Fresh selling again appeared In some
OF the steel shares but on the whole the
indications were that most of this pres
| sure was rather unimportant. At any
| rats-the rest OF the market refused TO
pay any attention TO II. The fact Of the
| matter Is that speculative sentiment has
improved. as a result OF the reactionary
disposition OF the market In the last few
days. and the opinion in conservative
quarters seemed to be that although the
| market Is due for a slowing down Of
activity on account of the proximity Of
the next loan the general trend OF the
market is still distinctly upward, But
thara no x,-bi ,l,
any test of strength could be based
and for the best part of the day the
market had TO follow along the same
lines as on Friday and Saturday of last
! week. The news from Mexico caused a
short furry in a few OF the Mexican
shares and toward the middle of the day
there was brief improvement In the
general list on report that Congress
would be called into extra session In the
early part of May. But both OF those
items were so indefinite as to be of prac-
tically no use from the stock market
point Of view and the market again
settled back into a two sided AFFAIR, with
the specialties continuing TO hold their
ground and the standard shares turning
reactionary.
Meanwhile most OF the interest was
manifested in several OF the miscellane-
ops stocks. which have been rather neg
lected in the general movement thus far.
Sinclair OIL came to the front again
with a sharp rise and all of the minor
Industrial shares showed fair gains,
while the motors again recorded further
improvements, The rails were sluggish
throughout the best part Of the day.
showing some life, however, toward the
middle OF the day on the report that
Congress would be convened in May. The
strength here was shortlived. as 1t was
In the rest OF the market. The only
exception to the general rule was the
coppers On a report that Anaconda
had discovered oil on one of its proper
ties the coppers turned strong under the
leadership of Anaconda and closed the
day substantially higher. Butte and Su-
perior made rather spectacular gains.
In the rest OF the list activity was given
over pretty largely to the specialties
and TO further profit taking in the stand
ard shares Steel common. while not In
any sense weak. was distinctly heavy for
the best part OF the day. and some of
the shipping shares which made impor-
tant gains on Friday and Saturday were
plainly under the influence OF realizing
sales.
Notwithstanding the heavy tax pay
ments on Saturday the money market
continued easy. Call money loaned
throughout the day at an average OF
about per cent. and there seemed to be
plenty of time funds available. In the
foreign exchange market there was an
other bad smash in francs, the rate
dropping 10 SIS francs to the dollar for
check and 5.76 francs for cables. new
levels for the current movement. There
was no new explanation of this, the
selling being due to the exhaustion of
Bank OF England credits to France as
reported last week.