Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-29
DECLINING TENDENCY
NOTED IN WALL ST.
Brokers Say Prices Are Going
Down and Turn Of Market
Has Come


Evening Suns financial review this .
afternoon is as follows:
While movements in tOday'S stock |
market were not wholly consistent, the |
tendency to decline was unmistakabe |
from the beginning and losses of to !
points were entailed. There were sev-
eral reasons for this which were OBJ
viOuS. and some others which were ap- |
parent to the initiated alone.
The most positive factor was the
meeting of the United States Steel direc- |
tors called for 3 o'clock. At this meet
ing the report for the second quarter !
of the year was to be given out and !
the board also had to pass on the i'm |
portant matter of the dividend. AS for
the latter, little change was anticipated. |
and accordingly interest ConvPrgCd |
mainly on what the report would show.
The street was not optimistic. as it
was known that May had been an cx
Ceptionally poor month, and that i'm
provPment in shipments and orders did
no, begin until the middle of June.
In other words, such Improvement as
there was came much too late to correct
the adverse trend of business thereto
fore.
Traders and public alike were natur
ally reluctant to expand their commit
ments because of the possibility of n
poorer showing in steel earnings even
than they anticipated. Had this stood
! alone as a market dampener. however.
! it is doubtful if the effect would have
been very pronounced. AS a matter of
! fact the impression has been insistcnt
| that no matter what happens the market
| is about due to turn the corner.
| Brokerage houses scarcely without
exception preached caution. Most of
them were noncommittal, but some of
them were frank to say that prices were
going down. Perhaps n fair average of
opinion to strike would be that inasmuch
as the usual summer lull did not come
in July it would probably come in Au
gust and that lull meant n decline in
prices. There are not many who are
prepared to say in so many words that
the long drawn out bull market has
definitely ended but disclaimers of such
an extreme view have not been wholly
convincing.
As counter influence to Secretary
GLASS; agreeable statement that the
national income would probably be Suf
ficient in the new fiscal year to meet the
bulk of expenses Of the government, ii
was offset by the irritating assumption
in some quarters that the meeting of the
Federal Reserve board in Washington
this afternoon was called for the pur
| pose of considering the continued ex
pansion of brokerage loans. There ap-
peared to be no ground for such an as
| sumption and in fact it was stated after
the meeting that the board did not take
/ the matter up.
What such loans may amount to II is
| not possible accurately to estimate. They
probably exceed 81 900 900, a large sun
but not excessive in view of the breadtl
of the market due to the access of large
numbers of issues listed. That money
must remain tight seems q certainty, a.
| the outward flow in the interest of thu
crop movement increases daily and i
cannot be far in the future before for
eign credits of large proportions will b.
l something more than to be talked about
| Call loans renewed at 6 and 612 pc
| cent. but were shortly after quoted a
SO. to 61a per cent for mixed and in
| dustrial collateral respectively. Later
the rate advanced to 6i2 and I per cent
One large ball and one trust compan,
have eliminated the distinction betweel
| the two classes of collateral. Tim
funds continued at around Z per cen
with little business transacting. as bid
for all dates were with few exception
not higher than g per cent.
Foreign exchange suffered somethin
of a reaction. Francs declined l
| centimes to T.24 francs to the dollar
Sterling was down IA cents to 4.3I
and Belgian francs were 3 points of
Lire held steady as did kroner. Peseta
advanced 3 points. About $500, 900
gold was engaged for shipment to Sout
America and small amounts were take
for other destinations.