New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-06-05
Industrial List
Advances at End
OF Dull Session
Professional Shorts Lead in
Covering Movement; Ear
ly Market Stagliant; Call
Money at 6 Per Cent

For four hours yesterday the stock
market was absolutely stagnant SO far
az showing any signs Of speculative
activity Stocks backed and filled
! sluggishly. A few special issues dis
played strength. The general perfor-
nance was devoid Of feature. Then
suddenly in the final hour the COM
plcxion of the market completely
changed. Prices started to move ahead,
first gradually, then more rapidly, and
in the last half hour a spirited rally
! woke up the browsing customers in
commission houses, demonstrating that
the market really had some life left in
it after all.
What happened was that the pro-
fessional bears who found the current
moving against them on Thursday, saw
the drift continuing in the same direc-
ton again yesterday, and as the scs-
sion wore on with stocks maintds7ln ing
a firm tone, these traders indicated a
greater desire to cover their short
commitments. The scramble of the
shorts in the final hour in Steel COM
mon and other of the speculative
favorites bore out the contention of
those who have held that stocks wero
in an oversold condition and therefore
likely to enjoy healthy recovery at
any moment. The action Of the list
led many market experts to believe
that the recovery would go further.
1t was market in which news
played a relatively minor part in shap
ing the course Of prices. AS a matter
of fact developments outside the mar
kct were hardly a factor so far as
influencing price fluctuations. The
squirt at the end of the day seemed to
be entirely due to the bears, who had
sold stocks freely at the beginning of
the week and were finding their po-
sition growing more uncomfortable as
the end of the week approached, finally
deciding to cover their stocks in and
pay whatever the market price might
be.
This sort of buying seemed to be
rather urgent in Steel common, which
was taken in large blocks in the final
half hour. Several transactions of
1900 to 5000 shares were taken on
rising price scale between 90 and o.
indicating that some of the bear in
terests did not relish the idea of wait
ing until to-day to wind up their short
commitments, especially with the mar
ket acting as if might even go higher.
Steel closed at 81 after selling at 923+
1t took only comparatively small
amount Of Steel to push it to its high
for the day. As for the whole market,
out of a total turnover of less than
100000 shares close TO $4,000 shares
changed hands in the closing hour.
Several special groups of stocks dis
OlaVp0 OrOODOncp0 STRENGTH RAILWAY
equipment issues were especially strong
under the leadership of American Car
& Foundry and Baldwin Locomotive.
In the specialties the Whelan stocks,
notably Retail Stores and Tobacco
Products, were actively purchased on
the advance Another strong spot
was international Paper, which has
been working higher ever since the
company announced an advance in the
price of newsprint week ago. The
rails were a disappointment, for they
seemed to lag and did not keep pace
with industrials even in the rally at
the close.
Stock Exchange borrowers found a
plentiful supply of call money at per
cent. This was also the renewal rate
for outstanding loans. A firm tendency
is looked for in the money market as
the middle Of the month approaches,
for that is the date when the second
installment of the Federal taxes falls
due. Disbursements from then on until
after the first of July will be extreme
ly heavy, as this is a period Of the
year when even under normal con-
ditions the strain on the banks is
heavy. In view Of this it is quite
likely that Wall Street will run into a
few days of rather high call rates
again.