The Washington herald., 1920-02-01
SHORT SELLING
BREAKS STOCKS
Expected Poor Bank State
ment Reason, But Fig
ures Cause Surprise.

New York. Jan s1.-The bank state
ment was better than expected and
viii probably cause a covering move
ment on Monday. This will be so be-
cause the market was broken today
almost entirely by rumor saying a
very bad bank statement would be is
sued. The professionals were so sure
of this that they sold stocks up to the
last minute Of trading. The good fis-
ures announced in the bank statement
was a surprise to them
The opening was strong, with Bald
win. General Motors. Crucible and the
a very light scale. and early in the
second hour the rumor of a bad bank
statement made its appearance. eGn-
eral Motors was broken more than IL
points. Crucible 6 and Chandler 4.
Business was confined almost exclu-
sively to these speculative issues. and.
therefore. the market did not get
enough headway to disclose its real
direction
One feature of the day that at
racted much attention was the
Ttrength Of the railroad list. This
extended to every kind of railroad.
Union Pacific was up a point and a
half and New Haven UP two points.
others advanced fractionally. The
movement was supposed to be due to
4 belief that Congress would finish
he railroad bills in the coming
week The Cummins bill is appar-
sntly to be the dominant factor in
he compromise measure. The new
measure will not be all that is want
ID, but il will be much better than
vas expected.
Professionals told one another that
he rails were being made strong to
iivert attention from the inside SELL
ng of the industrials, but the vol
Ime of business was not sufficient
% justify any such assumption. In
siders are not selling their indus
riaIs. although they may be neglect
ng to buy more. The annual re-
ports now in course of preparation
ire very embarrassing to the in
Iiders. for according to the figures
he stock market should be buoyant
ind IL does not advance. In one COM
pany whose figures were shown in
confidence today the net for 1919 was
more than double the most optimis-
ic forecasts made in Wall Street.
zen thar s.".- mains heavy.
An1th-T sayauss in the price of
t1nro5i!C -ires : cheduled for the
MI
ug-h .s a., O. stocks. The,
uce is ~-str scessary in part
&c increassd est of labor and
to'jai.
naJionaI Jar kers have sud
-ru- to r-a ze that the in
-har q inaH hey were pro-
lice he ,-lsed States were
r~s he u'-' ChdritS- Lu's'
..- .a1niT,It Italian, came
rta-Iay with a sugges-
t-r-agr lit asking aims
- +. --Sh an rican business
71 A;aBsulsea basis. He said
isiyawouIi ~. the first of the
TO come nsck' and that
would 90 trs without the
anon af ueEEIng a loan on
-Isritahl- basis. He wants no
lfer nation 10 stand between the
Jrites States business men and the
.ssinsss ner o, ally and urges
ssorl II N aas Irss 10 hat end.
rkls e. mlnsIiog q the middle
rsu j. faHy that j. being made by
aie American farrle~s also. Theo-
retically. thu IaAg man is a pro-
iucer because he facilitates distri-
Iution. The farmer imagined that
Ie himself was the only producer
Iut that idea was exploded a gener-
.tion ago. Under modern conditions
# transportation there are too
many assistant producers under the
Iame of middlemen injected between
he farmer and the consumer.