The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-01-21
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Weakness Continues in Steel
and Copper Shares and
Close Is Slow.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Buying on Scale Down Is Good
and the Resistance Is
Fairly Strong.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

Still further progress was made In the
stock market yesterday in a continue
ton of the movement which was under
way a. the close last week. The selling
was of n professional character. how
! ever, and so far as could be determined
the efforts Of traders were not success
full in bringing about any real liquida-
ton. although the pressure resulted In
| further and more pronounced losses
! among a few of the standard shares.
particularly the steels and coppers.
There appeared to be good buying on n
| scale down, and the stubbornness with
| which the market at times resisted the
| movement suggested that the financial
| community was not altogether or one
mind as regards the future OF the mar
| ket But in the absence OF anything
| that might have been expected to stiriu-
late interest on the constructive side
| the market gave way easily. and. not
! Yithstanding a few firm spots. the trad
ing as a whole was generally unsatis-
| ia ctory.
! While there was no fresh develop
| ment which could have been expected 20
| bring about larger participation on the
| long side there were number or de-
| yelopments calculated TO influence the
bear pressure In the first place the
| denial from Washington with respect
to the Increase in freight rates was dis
appointing, and in the second place the
market was disposed to take rather Sc
| ricusly an interview which was given
cut In Europe by Charles NJ Schwab ia
| the effect that the country was facing
an Industrial depression. This partlcu-
| lar development, coming at n time when
the market was In a rather weak POSI-
| ton. gave traders an excellent oppor-
| tunity to press 1t still further, with the
result that the last hour was devoted
| pretty generally to marking down prices
! in some cases to new lows Tor Inc cur
rent movement. Moreover. there were
persistent reports of further unfavora-
bic DEVELOPMENTS in connection with the
traction situation. These were not OF
any great benefit to the bears. but they
| tended TO check plans for the future
ard at the same time TO place the whole
market situation in an entirely new
light to those who had been expecting
n technical rally during the last houi
of business.
As on saturday the greater part Of the
pressure again converged on the steeh
and coppers All of them went lowel
after a rather firm opening. There wa:
a firmer disposition in the early after
noon Following the publication OF thu
Schwab interview. however, the move
ment was resumed and the whole list gave
way, with the exception of a few Fpe
cialties such as Distillers and Industrial
Alcohol. Steel went below 90 for thu
first time in almost year, and there
was special weakness in Smelters ant
the rest of the coppefs. With respec
to the Schwab predictions, there wa,
nothing particularly new in them. The,
simply recited facts which Wall Stree
has known since the armistics wa
signed and which ii has been ell
gagged in the process of discounting 10
more than two months. The fact tina
| they came at a time when the marke
was weak undoubtedly made them lool
more important than they really woul,
have been considered had they come las
week when the market was disposed I,
he firm.
| The money market was easier. Cal
money loaned as low as.3ai per cent
This reflected an Improvement in tn
bank statement on Saturday, and at tn
same time the general tendency of none,
to become easy throughout the country
The foreign exchange market was Quie
and ra ties were slightly easier. II anything
although most of them were unchanged
from Saturdays closing. The volume o
trading in the stock market, as we'll n
in the bond market, was about un
changed from last Friday The bon,
market was disposed to he firm. am
investment houses generally continue,
TO report a good demand for new offer
ings Cotton was weak in sympath'
with Liverpool and prices broke rattle
sharply.