New-York tribune., 1920-04-27
Advance in Rails
Features Recovery
OF Stock Market
lndustrials Move Upward
as Sentiment Improves;
Readings Net Cain Is
IL After Court Ruling

otocks displayed strong recuperative
Io"ers yesterday in a market in which
lne ralis We'd with the ndustrials in
polhs OF speculative interest. The re-
coVery' which extended several points
IN the more active industrials and av.
eraged a point or more in the standard
rams, came as a pleasant surprise to the
trading element, which had become
more or less resigned to q further re-
cession IN prices in continuation of Tho
movement of last week.
The big feature of the session came
when Reading shares rose in spectacu-
lar fashion Immediately after the news
OF the Supreme Courts decision in the
FAMOUS antitrust suit against the rail-
road-coal company combination had
been flashed from Washington shortly
after midday, holding the consolida-
tion an illegal monopoly. At the close
Reading common showed net gain Of
ieariy IA points on turnover of ap
proXlmately 100000 shares, while the
firs6 and second preferred issues were
also substantially higher.
Efforts made by the professional
traders to bring about further unset
t.ement and produce fresh liquidation
| were without success The market of.
fered sturdy resistance to bear opera
tlons most of the day The aggressive
bidding UP of industrials and the sur
prlslng strength displayed in the rail
ROAD department were indicative not
only OF growing nervousness on the
par OF the extended short interest, but
reflected a more confident feeling
among long holders of stocks. Wall
Street, on the whole, appeared to be in
a, much more cheerful frame of mind
than han was the case last week. Rising
prices usually are conducive to i'm
proved sentiment. Stock spectators,
however, have not forgotten the sudden
selling that overwhelmed the market
few days ago. The disposition is to
proceed cautiously with market opera
tions until the air has cleared of many
OF the current uncertainties.
Although the Reading Company has
lost IN the highest courts, and must
therefore be broken up in manner
that will eliminate the holding corpora
tion, divorcing the railroad from the
coal properties, Wall Street viewed this
development as having an extremely IA
vorable bearing upon the stock. The
next step will be the dissolution, which
is expected to be followed by some sort
of distribution to stockholders of the
Reading, so that it appears to be only
question of time when the Reading
melon,' of which the Street has been
talking these many years and using as
bull argument on the stock will be
cut.
The rise in New York Central and
Baltimore & Ohio stocks yesterday was
directly connected with the decision in
the Reading case, since these roads be-
Reading stock, and will therefore bene-
fit from any distribution that may be
made. Other coal roads, notably Pitts
burgh & West Virginia, Chesapeake &
Ohio and Lehigh Valley, were strong in
sympathy with Reading.
The manner in which many Of the in
dustrial shares. notably motors, oils,
steels and equipments, moved forward
suggested that the shorts were finding
it not as easy as they had expected to
obtain stock for covering purposes.
1874 points up, while gains elsewhere
ranged anywhere from l to points.
Betterment in the banking position
as disclosed in Saturdays statements
was reflected in fairly liberal offerings
of call money at 7 per cent. The point
was made in connection. with last
weeks showing of the Reserve Bank of
New York that its position would have
been even better had it not been for
the fact that it. rediscounted great
deal Of paper for other Federal Reserve
institutions.
The fact remains, however, that the
system as a whole continues to reflect
the strain Of unprecedented credit de-
mands, which appears to be bearing
with particular weight upon Western
and Southern banks because of the de-
mands of the crop planting season.
Exchange on London developed weak
ness yesterday, the rate declining at
one time more than four cents in the
pound. Sterling is now off more than
20 cents from the high reached few
weeks ago, when rates crossed 81.