The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-07-18
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Prices Drop in Stock Market
as Wall Street Stops to
Take Breath.
SLOW DOWN Is GRADUAL
Standard and Rail Shares Hold
Ground as Speculative
Specialties Lose.

| The fact that prices went lower on the
Stock Exchange again yesterday in face
| OF another sharp advance at the outset
did not reflect the entrance of any new
| factors into the financial situation. II
| simply meant that the pace of trading
had reached point where 1t was hui
| manly impossible for Wall Street to
maintain It any longer without breath
Ing SPELL On technical grounds alone the
| alteration from decided firmness during
! tho greater part Of the forenoon to pro-
| nounced weakness in tho last hour could
have been accounted for satisfactorily.
The reaction was somewhat more pro-
| nounced in some directions than any one
might have expected In view OF the con.
, tinued bullishness OF the speculative
fraternity. but the reaction was welcome
In most quarters. and Wall Street in
general had no complaint to make either
over the downward course OF prices in
the last hour or over the prospect Of a
slowing down in the pace of trading until
the financial community has had a
chance to get It's bearings again.
II was simply a case Of business get
ting to a point where II was impossible to
handle 1t adequately any longer. This was
emphasized by the announcement on the
night before that the governors OF the
Stock Exchange had decided to close
down on Saturday in order to give tn.
various commission houses an opportu-
nifty to catch UP with their bookkeeping
This announcement came somewhat I'M
expectedly and undoubtedly accounted
for at least part Of the selling in the
last hour yesterday for many traders
reading the decision of the governors to
close the board Saturday. decided {,
make a good holiday out of II and closed
out their commitments intending to re.
main away from the financial community
until Monday. But for the most part.
however. the selling represented nothing
more than profit taking. selling for the
purpose of realizing on paper profits
where such profits had become too at
tractive TO carry any longer. Most Of
this selling, OF course, centred in the
highly speculative specialtes and such
issues OF the type OF Crucible. Bethlehem
Steel and Baldwin, whose advances Of
late have been all out of proportion to
the movement in the rest of the list. In
these issues the net declines at the close
were rather pronounced. although moth
ing more than might have been expected.
The peculiar fact about the session.
however. was that while these issues
were decidedly weak in comparison with
other stocks, the so-called standard
shares of the type Of Steel common and
the rails held their ground remarkably
we'll Steel common, while 1t reacted
with the rest Of the market, at no time
presented any such aspect Of weakness
as did some OF the other issues and at
the same time 1t was noticeable that
whenever the pressure subsidized these
issues recovered their ground better than
nything else on the list Whether this
was an indication Of the technical
strength of the market or. not, the fact
nlx. NhAx ~ - tina thaf
at no time was anything like that
against the general list. At the outset
there werc broad advances again in the
railroad shares OF the type Of st. Paul
and New Haven and there was also pro-
nounced strength around midday In the
motor shares under the leadership Of
Studebaker. However. whatever improve
ments were recorded in this direction
were wiped out entirely In the last hour
under selling that was entirely profess
sional and of the profit taking character,
with the result that most stocks closed
at about the low for the day.
Money was much easier all day. that Is
to say money on mixed collateral. But II
was still apparent that the bankers are
discriminating against the industrials.
This was plain again for the reason
that the rate on all industrial loans re-
manned all day above Z per cent, not
withstanding the fact that most of the
industrials continued to lose ground and
notwithstanding the fact that the pace
OF trading in this direction quieted down
considerably from the early part OF the
week. This may have Influenced the
market somewhat with respect to the in
dustrials. but for the most part 1t did
not appear as though Wall Street was
paying much attention to the money situ-
alton. The foreign exchange market
was decidedly weak again. Sterling made
another new low record. Lire were al
SO weak. but francs, on the other hand.
were somewhat steadier. As has been
stated previously tho continued decline
in sterling is becoming alarming in GER
tain banking quarters, and there Is much
criticism over the course taken by the
British Government and also Of local
bankers for not taking steps relative to
stabilizins the market OF at least steady
ing IL