The sun., 1919-04-24
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Early Advance, Lead by Steel,
Is Followed by Reaction
in Afternoon.
BUYING OFTEN VIOLENT
Rails and Majority of Active
Issues Act Similarly
to Steel.


level Of expanded activity reached earlier
in the week. the stock market made an
other pronounced movement yesterday in
the standard shares. This time 1t was
Steel common itself rather than the rails
or the specialties but the advance, ae
usual, was entirely too fast to be MAIN
tanned. and the market In the afternoon
proceeded to react about as easily as It
had advanced in the forenoon. The rea-
son for this obviously was a recognition
on the part of traders OF the overcrowded
position on the constructive side Of the
market and seemingly desire to bring
about more balanced position. But by
far the most interesting development OF
the day was the reaction In the last half
OF the session. This was rather moro ex-
tensive than similar movements recently,
and seemed to indicate that there are
hopes. for the present at least, among
the Speculative fraternity of bringing
about something more In the way of a
reaction than has thus far been experi-
enced In the current movement.
The squirt in Steel common was I'M
doubtedly a surprise to most Of the Wall
street district. There had been predic-
tions for several days past of an at
tempt to move Steel out OF the trading
level, but these seemed highly improb-
able In view of the proximity Of the divi-
dend meeting and of the possibility Of q
out In the disbursement The buying was
very violent at times, but whether II
represented anything more than the mere
running in of the short interest which
has been built UP in anticipation of an
unfavorable. outcome of next Tuesdays
meeting is Questionable. 1t Is no secret
that the short interest in this stock has
been very materially increased within
the last two weeks, and II Is no secret,
either, that the buying which has been
reported has not been what Wall Street
generally characterizes as good buying.
Whatever the answer, there was no dis
position in the financial community yes
terday to change opinions as to the steel
situation. nor as to what may happen at
next weeks meeting. Ut is accepted as
| foregone conclusion that the earnings
will show a substantial decline and that
the extra dividend will be reduced, II
not cut of altogether. In view of these
| facts the strength of Steel yesterday was
surprising indeed, just as was the re-
vival of speculative interest in the rail-
road shares on the preceding day
In SO far as the railroad stocks were
concerned, their action yesterday was
disappointing. that is to say to those
| who had really expected anything like
| a sustained buying movement Their
| position Is precisely the same as that OF
| the steels just at present in a specula-
, tive sense. There is no question as to
| the attractiveness Of some of the Issues
but the situation. both as to steel and
| the rails, Is still too unsettled to permit
| their participation In the general move
| ment for any length of time. Most OF
| the special Issues advanced along with
the steels. particularly the oils and Royal
| Dutch. Also there was further move
in Texas & Pacific, but the great ma
| jority Of active shares followed the lead
| ership OF steel in the afternoon and re.
acted substantially from the high Of the
| day. The development OF a reaction in
the last two hours was not regarded I'M
favorably. AS n matter of fact it showed
a desire to clean out the weak points in
the market and in a general way brins
| about a situation which Wall Street has
| been looking for ever since the upward
movement In the market began.
There was no change IN the money
situation. Call money remained at about
the same levels of earlier in the week
and there was very little time money
available. In the foreign exchange mar.
ket there was slightly more activity and
| rates were generally firm. Sterling ad-
vanced slightly. Belgium and Swiss
| francs were about unchanged. Neutrals
showed no change with the exception oil
| Spanish pesetas. which were heavy. The
bond market was quiet and showed nc
| interest in reports in the morning paper:
| that the Victory Loan was tagging. This
| Is to be expected for the first week or
| 80, As n matter OF fact the financial
| community is convinced that the loar
| Is going to. be oversubscribed substan-
TALLY. and is not paying much attention
to such reports so early in the course OF
| the campaign.