The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-07-23
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Stocks, Although Quieter, Are
Steader From the Start
to the Finish.
PRICES RALLY AT CLOSE
Steel, Royal Dutch aud Some
Motors and Specialties
Make Recoveries.
PRICES RALLY AT CLOSE

In yesterdays STOCK market mondays
excited and somewhat demoralized
movement of prices was not continued.
The session was quieter and steadier
from start to finish and there was an
encouraging rally in prices at tho clos
ing which went to confirm the previous
days impression that nothing moro i'm
portant had taken place within the
market itself than a shaking out of the
weakly margined accounts preparatory
to resumption Of the upward move
ment In other words, what has taken
place in the market is precisely what
took place q month ago, only on larg-
er scale and Just as in case of that
shake out, stocks came back with the
same degree of ease which has been
characteristic of all movements during
the last two months or more. There
were still a number of issues which did
not share In the recovering movement,
but this was on account OF purely in
dividual considerations, for in the larger
number Of issues there was an actual
shortage Of stocks which necessitated a
vigorous UP bidding movement by the
shorts in order to cover their commit
ments.
What made yesterdays recovery all
the more impressive was the fact that
it took place in face Of preponderance
Of bearish opinion. Nearly all of the
commission houses In the morning mar
ket letters had advised their customers
to sell stocks again and, what is more.
a number OF houses in order to encour-
age the selling had sent out margins
calls whether there was any justifca-
ton for them or not. The brokerage
community in. this respect seemed to
take the opinion that inasmuch as the
market had started downward 1t would
continue to do SO and as this was the
case more margins would be needed
anyway. But as It turned out the
market actually reversed itself after the
first few minutes and toward the clos
ing there was an up bidding of stocks
which lifted the leading speculative IA
vorites back to not far from the point
where the selling movement started last
week. As on the preceding day there
were no real news developments except
in the case of individual stocks 1t
might have been supposed that some Of
these would have influenced a resump-
ton Of the selling movement in other
parts of the list, but such was not ap-
parent on the surface of things at least.
The most important recoveries in yes
terday's market, as might have been ex-
pected. were in precisely those issues In
which the selling pressure on the pre-
ceding day had been most pronounced.
Steel common. which had been the prin-
cipal target OF the bearish attacks on
Monday, came back to ITO at the clos
ing, while such issues as Royal Dutch,
some of the motors and other specialties.
were actually buoyant. Whether he re-
covery was enough to influence an
about face of speculative sentiment of
course remains to be seen, but one thing
was clear at least, and that was that II
Is a much easier matter to put stocks up
than 1t is to put them down. notwith-
standing the recent demonstrations on
the selling side of the market. AS has
been the case all along, there were
number of individual specialties which
stood out above the rest of the list in
the matter of strength. They included
for the most part stocks In which there
are known to be pool operations, such as
the tobaccoss the motors and others. The
tobaccos were particularly strong spots
in this group. Trading was on a slightly
larger scale on Monday. although the
dealings were still below the average
session of a week or more ago
The money situation was easier for the
first time in several days. All industrial
moneygot below per cent. in fact for
tho first time in a week and there were
indications in many directions that no
further trouble in this connection is
likely to be experienced for some time
to come. 1t was learned yesterday that
one OF the principal reasons why money
was SO firm on Monday, in spite of the
favorable bank statement on Saturday.
was on account of the payment on sew
erai new issues which have been put out
recently. One OF these was the Canadian
loan, involving about $75,o00,0o0. An
other reason for the improvement In the
stock market yesterday was the steadier
market which existed in the exchanges
Sterling was quieter and held its ground
better yesterday than has been the case
for some time back, and the stability Of
this exchange tended to hold all the rest
Of the rates. including in particular
francs.