The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-26
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Trading Consists Largely Of
Special Movements-List
Fluctuates Narrowly.
NEGLECT OLD FAV0RITES
Market, However, Gives Fair
Account of Itself, With To-
baccOs i'm Lead.
NEGLECT OLD FAvORITES

Trading in yesterdays stock market
was made up very largely of collec-
ton Of special movements, with the gen.
eral nfof securities fuctuating over
very narrow range. These stood stu
entirely or sagged off, as was the case
with the majority of standard stocks.
Their heaviness was not at all signin-
can't however, it merely meant that
Wall Street was continuing the same
sort of tactics which have been appar-
ent in the general market ever since the
steel strike began to dominate the deal
ings: namely, neglecting the leading
speculative favorites for specialtles In
which there are individual reasons for
attempting a movement In the direction
of higher levels Business was still en-
tirely professional and the tendency OF
dealings to contract was somewhat fur
Their emphasized by reason of the Jew
ish holiday, which caused many OF the
large traders and professional market
operators to remain away from the
financial community altogether.
There was no special change In the
steel situation. The reports IN the morn
ing papers continued to emphasize the
desire of many workers to return to the
plants, but whatever encouragement
may have been derived from this was
largely counteracted by the growing
feeling in the financial district that the
strike is likely to be a long drawn out
affair. The big question, so far as the
financial community is concerned, is
how long the strike will last. 1t is real
lied that unless things change very sud-
denly for the worse there Is little
likelihood of the strikers winning their
point but the fact cannot be overlooked
that II may take a longer period to re-
sumo operations on a full scale than
Wall Street has been willing to admit.
This is not worrying Wall Street much
with respect to the steel shares. 1t is
on the companies which are now run
ming at top speed and whieh are de-
pendent on the steel concerns for sup
plies that Wall street is beginning to
| Wonder what effect long strike will
have. The companies in particular
which will be hit worst are the auto
| mobile concerns. These companies are
now running at the peak Of production,
and II the strike should go on for a
month or more. as many people now
| expect, it might be the cause of gen.
| era shutdown in this industry.
| as a whole, however, the market still
gave a fairly good account of itself. AT
any rate, there were enough spots OF
strength among the specialties to give
the general list an appearance OF
strength. The tobacco stocks were again
the principal features of the day, with
American Tobacco crossing 800 to a new
high record, and with special strength
again in American Sumatra and other
tobaccos. The rest of the list, that is to
say aside from a few other individual
! issues was generally heavy, and did
very little throughout the session. This
was especially true of the steel stocks
The buying in these issues previously
had led many persons to believe that tine
heavy transactions represented pur-
chases on the part of the so-called steel
crowd. but this turned out to be nothing
more than covering of short contracts
which had been put out earlier in the
week in anticipation of a more severe
decline than actually took place. On
the other hand it could not be said that
| there was any large amount OF selling
Yesterday. Whatever there was was
merely profit taking, and carried nc
special significance in SO far as indicat-
ing any change in the financial commu-
nifty concerning the steel strike s-tuh-
ton.
The money market was still firm yes
terday Call money opened at pei
cent and went to I at the closing. Thi,
was due undoubtedly to the continued
effects of the recent heavy Withdrawals
and also to the fact that out of town in
stitutions have not as yet made any
move in sending funds to this centre tc
meet the heavy demands for funds. 1t ii
not anticipated, however. that the sltua'
ton will remain tight for any length Of
tine. While the Government is with
drawing large amounts other funds are
coming In to this district, which are ex
pected to bring about an important i'm
provement in the bank statement when Il
is issued on Saturday The foreign en-
change market was very strong. Ster
ling improved considerably. as did nesrl,
all the rest OF the rates. Sterling sigh
bills opened above A21; francs were
tup IA points. In fact everything wal
up except Belgian francs and guilders
which were slightly lower. The weekly
statement of the Bank OF England dis
closed proportion OF reserve to liabilities
| A o n at % "a cent