The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-02-11
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Market After Early Weakness
Strengthens Toward Close
Of Session.
CPTURN FAIRLY GENERAL
Marines Lead MOvementWhfch
Spreads TO Tobacco and
Other Specialties.
CPTURN FAIRLY GENERAL

The spirit In which trading was con-
Quoted on the Stock Exchange yesterday
continued remarkably cheerful In spite
or the untavorable news developments of
the day. The markets tone In fact was
quite firm, becoming rather strong to-
! ward the closing after some earlyNper-
! sistent weakness. Dealings were on a
! quiet scale as contrasted with the aver
age OF recent sessions still the mar
kets action was interesting In so far
as its relation to the monthly TONNAGE
statement of the Steel Corporation was
concerned. This. as had been anticl-
pated' showed marked falling Off IN
the corporations bookings. and misht
have been expected to provide reason for
further selling movement. But no
such thing actually occurred. On the
contrary. when the professional element
! found that it could not make any prog
ress by selling stocks it turned its al
/ tention TO the constructive side OF the
market. with the result that there was
fairly general upturn at the close.
! The Steel Corporations statement was
, about what had been expected in specu-
lative circles. 1t showed a falling of OF
about $4,000 tons from the preceding
month. The consequence was that when
the statement appeared on the news
tickers at noon II made very little i'm
preston on the Wall Street community
II was realized hrst that January prob
ap!N would go down as the worst montl,
! o. the year for the steel business, and
that there might be further decrease
/ In tonnage during the current month
secondly. that the corporations earnings
Tor the current quarter probably would
slow marked decrease. But the i'm
portant question in connection with the
statement was as to whether stocks had
discounted all o; this. That most OF |,
had been discounted was demonstra ted
plainly enough by the action of the mar
ket. There was, of course, some dispo-
sition among traders at first to sell on
the theory that the bad news might
| make some impression. But they did
not get very FAR. and when in the nna1
| hour the resistance was found to be
much stronger than heretofore short
covering set in and the market turned
Up all around. that is to say, in impor-
tant descriptions.
| The Improvement began with the
shipping shares. which earlier In the day
lad been forced down quite sharply In
| continuation OF the movement which,
was under way on Saturday. Marine
| preferred was particularly strong fea
| ture. There was nothing new in con-
nection with the deal for the sale OF the
| company's British tonnage, but the fact
| that Chairman Hurley OF the Shipping
Board was nearing port made the shorts
uneasy in fear that he might say some
thing favorable. All Of the toba COOS
! were strong. Tobacco Products made a
| new high record in response 10 reports
as to what showing the company will
| mako in its annual statement which will
! he published later in the week. There
| was also special strength in DlstiIlers
| Royal Dutch. Hide and Leather and a
| number of the other specialties which
have attracted considerable attention In
the Wall Street district OF late. Then
| in the last hour the strength spread IA
the steel shares. Steel common itself
which earlier in the day sold down TO a
| new low record for the current move
mept, gained more than a point. The
coppers moved up in sympathy.
| The money market was quiet. with
| the tone slightly frmer. Can money,
! for instance. closed at from 6 TO 6ia per
cent, as contra sted with an average OF
to A.. per cent. last week. What this
| reflected were the preparations for the
payment OF the last issue Of certificates
OF Indebtedness. which will be made on
Thursday. There were also heavy Gov
eminent Withdrawals from the local
banks during the day. There was very
little of interest in the foreign exchange
market. Nearly all rates were un-
changed. except for Swiss francs. which
\ we're a tribe nrmer.