The sun., 1919-03-02
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Mixed Movements Give Market
an Irregular Appearance,
but Net Gains General.
CHANGES FRACTIONAL
Banks Surplus Reserve Show
Increase Of Approximately
$24,O00,OOO for Week.

The usual week end evening up pro-
cesses by the professional and semi-pro-
fessional elements undoubtedly accounted
to q large extent for the irregular trend
of prices on the Stock Exchange yester-
day. There was heavy profit taking
again IN the standard list on part of
traders who make II a rule never to
carry stocks over a holiday, and also a
I mixture Of new speculative buying In
tho leading rails and Individual special
ties. This gave the market an irregular
appearance, although the recessions
I were fractional In all cases and by far
/ the greater number of stocks closed the
day with net gain. All in all, the
! trading was "a satisfactory as could be
expected under the circumstances, par
| ticularly with respect to the signs of
| moro evident stability In the railroad
department Those shares have Jagged
tcnind IN the recent bulge. and the indi.
cations OF more active participation were
| a source OF favorable comment after the
closing.
Trading was very much quieter al
around. as was to be expected on &C.
count of the shrot session. This showed
however. that there was no great amour,
Of stock pressing on the market and
cleared away the unsafe superstructure
that had been created by the expansion
in activity and the sharp upward swing
| that has taken place In some parts Of the
list In the last two weeks One Of the
reasons for the sharp curtailment Of &C.
tivity also was the difficulty OF commits
sion houses In getting in touch with
their Western branches on account OF
wire trouble. But this was only a minor
aNfA ~, he. Aax NraI To-
edly Wall Street was well pleased with
the slackening OF business while the
market was being teadjusted to the new
price level. There was very little news
which might have been expected to infiu-
erce prices. Some interest was mani
tested in the story Of a Government la
Dor commission going abroad for confer
noes with leaders in England and
France and In the weekly accounts Of
business considerations, but, except In a
general way, these considerations had
very little, II any, influence in the days
business.
The leader OF the railroad group, as 4.
always the case with activity in that
department, was Reading, which expe-
rienced a net gain OF almost points.
Strength here naturally brought sympa-
;hetic advances in Atchison. Union Pa
cific. Great Northern and some OF the
other high priced issues. The standard
list. while generally irregular for the day
as whole. displayed fairly firm I'M
dertcne and there was scale buying on
all recessions. The shipping shares.
which were the principal features of Fri
days trading, went lower in the initial
dealings on profit taking, but United
Cila Stores, another feature Of the pre-
ceding days business, lost none Of its
favor. That stock sold up to a new
high for the year and Influenced symp<
-hetc gains in nearly all OF the other
tobacco issues. Distillers was a strong
spot again and Industrial Alcohol made
further gains, but there was little inter-
est in such stocks as Steel common,
Bethlehem B and Crucible, all of which
closed the day not very far removed
from the preceding days closing. The
fractions were weak, particularly the
bonds. marlborough metropolitan AIS
were especially weak. accompanying
report that a receivership was being
planned for Interborough Consolidated
not later than April l.
The bank statement disclosed an in
crease in surplus reserve of approx
mately $24.0o0,000. making that item
$40,1TS.+60. The increase was ac-
counted for by an addition of S29. 900, 00t
In cash reserve OF member banks with
the Federal Reserve Bank OF New York
which was partly Offset by a rise in de.
mand and tim deposits. But the
most significant thing about the bank
statement was the expansion In loans,
rejecting the increased activity on the
Stock Exchange The loan item was re-
ported as s4.S57,594 900. the largest ever
recorded in the history OF the Clearing
House Association. The feature of the
foreign exchange market again was
the continued weakness in francs.