The Sun and the New York herald., 1920-07-30
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Afternoon Rally in Stock Mar
ket Carries Values Well
Above Opening Levels.
STEEL LEADS ADVANCE
Lower Priced Rails Make Good
showing-Money Situation
Is Improved.

Tho stock market opened yesterday
morning under the influence Of tho very
poor response which stocks had made
to efforts 10 put them up In tho last
hour OF Wednesdays trading. In that
session the market, instead OF respond
ing TO the lowering OF the money rate
and the general feeling that stocks had
been oversold, had gone still lower. &C
that II was quite natural as prices
opened yesterday to have expected
much lower range Of quotations before
the day was over. But no heavy vol
ume came out on the market at the
outset. and after trading had Quieted
down and q definite trend had devel-
oped II appeared as though the market
had actually been oversold. as observers
had said II had. Accordingly there was
a rally in the afternoon. and II lifted
tho general run OF stocks we'll above the
opening but It was accomplished mostly
on short covering, and while encouraG-
ing II lacked convincing qualities. II
was not aggressive enough. for one
thing, to suggest q general rout OF the
shorts or did It appear as II the public
was rushing in to buy.
The principal consideration In the i'm
provement was the general realisation
that the market had been oversold, for
It appeared as though the same traders
or rather group Of traders, that had
been responsible for putting It down
had been responsible also for marking
prices upward In the afternoon. The
proximity Of the freight rate decision
tended to influence the shorts, as II wal
expected to"produce at least q rally In
the rails, but 30 far as the Street as
whole was concerned there was no gen
eral feeling that the rally would hold
for any length Of time. AS an illustra'
tIon Of the present franc OF mind Of the
financial community. the average COM
mission house follower. instead Of fig'
urlng on how cheap prices were began
10 figure Immediately at what level ne
could put out stocks probably. Thai
sort Of talk appeared In all important
commission house circles. and for thai
reason there Is much doubt as tc
whether the rally that ID under way Ii
going to extend as far as people ex'
pect.
II was not until Steel common hat
equalled It's previous low OF the year tina
stocks showed any sign Of rallyinl
power. AS on Wednesday, It might no
have been anything moro than a tricl
on the part Of the traders to cover othel
stocks under the weakness Of Steel, for i
was noticeable that such issues as Bald
win. American. Mexican Petroleum
end others did not follow Steel In thii
particular incident When the rallI
actually got under way It made re-
markably good progress In some direo
tions. There was very sharp rally II
Baldwin, Vanadium. Republic, the Mexi
can oils and motors, but at the sam'
time II was apparent that traders wer'
taking advantage Of the squirt to pu
out fresh lines. The ralls-that Is to say
the lower priced rails--probably acteC
as we'll as any other particular groul
Of stocks, as might have been expected
! In view Of the anticipated freight rat
decision. There was a particularly shar1
squirt at the closing In St Louis and
Southwestern.
The money situation again showed dis
| tinct improvement with the rate as Low
as per cent In the afternoon, becaus'
Of lack Of demands for funds and no
because tho supply was any more plenu
full The fact that money was easy, o.
rather comparatively easy, In the face o
Government Withdrawals. nevertheless
| made strong impression on marke
followers. as did the prospects for a gooC
bank statement tomorrow. II Is ex
pected that there will be real improve
ment in to-morrow's bank statement. ant
| that for the first time the money position
will reflect an improvement In the rail
road freight situation, which has beeI
at the bottom OF the whole money dim
culties in this district. Gov. Harding
statement was also taken to moan tina
the general statement OF the reserv
banks likewise would show an importan
Improvement Certainly there should b.
reduction in the loan account Of tn
Clearing House statement in view Of tn
liquidation that has taken place In th'
stock market this week. The foreign
exchange market was weak. with sterling
down again. In this connection foreign
exchange brokers are still talking o
lower prices, particularly for sterling.