The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-18
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Market Continues Irregular,
Erratic and Confusing in
Its Movements.
SWAYED BY STRIKE NEWS
General List, Except in Few
Instances, Is Quiet or
Z Fluctuates Wildly.
swAYED BY STRIKE NEWS


stock market was a repetition Of Tues
days highly irregular affair. an erratic.
confusing market, which hinged almost
entirely upon the hour to hour communi-
cations from the scene of the big labor
conference In Pittsburg. The interest
was absorbed In half dozen special
stocks. which enjoyed fairly substantial
advances. but the general run of listed
securities either ruled very quiet or
else. on the other hand. fuctuated very
wildly all day. There was no special
significance to these movements, repre-
sentng as they did nothing more than
the Interpretation OF the professional
traders Of the various news dispatches
from the labor conference. The rank
and file of the financial community was
still confident in the, ultimate outcome of
the conference. and, whenever the pres
sure was relaxed. the manner in which
stocks recovered left no doubt as to
what the general tendency Of the market
was.
In short, the record Of the days move
ments In the stock market involved
nothing more serious than a series OF
professional raids on both sides of the
market In other words, whenever there
happened to be a piece OF favorable
news about the steel strike, traders took
great delight in forcing the shorts to
cover while, on the other hand, the
most indefinite rumors that fitted into
the theories of some traders that the
steel strike could not be avoided was
Immediately seized upon as a reason to
raid the very stocks which but a moment
before had shown signs of recovering.
But the important fact which stooo
out all day was that whenever there
we're any real movements the trend was
always upward. There was still good
deal OF shifting of commitments from
stocks which have become inactive for
the time being into issues that happened
to be moving yesterday. This involved
considerable selling of the recent specu-
lation favorites. such as Baldwin and
Crucible, but II In no way tended to
shake the confidence which Wall Street
has in the belief that some way will
| be found to postpone the strike cues
ton until after the big conference be-
tween labor and capital in Washington
| next month.
Stocks went higher again at the out
set under an accumulation of overnight
buying orders. predicated, no doubt, on
the strength of the steel shares In the
last hour of Tuesdays trading. Gains
ranging all the way from / to points
and moro were recorded. But by the
end of the first hour the incentive for
| following up the advances had disap-
peared with the result that stocks re-
ceeded. losing part of the gain recorded
at the outset. BY midday sentiment was
sufficiently bullish again to bring about
rather vigorous buying movement,
which resulted in the highest prices for
the session. This, however, was followed
by another pronounced selling movement,
lasting to the very closing. and result
| ing In very large array OF net declines
from the preceding days final There
were a number of stocks, however which
stood out all day for their strength, not
outstanding the pressure against the
main speculative position. These in
cluded the tobacco shares in particular.
American Tobacco had another specta-
cular rise right on top of its tremendous
advance on Monday and Tuesday and
United Retail Stores was well bought
again all day.
/ There was no special change in the
money situation. Call money was easy
all during the trading as has been.
predicted for a week or more in this
column. With the tax instalment out
of the way. money is again returning
to the banks and it is expected that
rates will even go lower than yesterdays,
which were the lowest for several days
back The foreign exchange market was
in a stage of collapse throughout most
Of the session. Sterling, francs and lire
all went into new low ground. There
was slight rally toward the closing,
due for the most part to short covering.
But no permanent Improvement is In
sight yet. according to bankers in close
touch with the situation. They contend,
just as they have all along. that no
permanent Improvement can come In
the foreign exchange market until the
plan for credits has been approved and
is In actual operation. The whole mat
ter is due to this situation and. there
fore. no improvement can be expected
until some action is taken.