New-York tribune., 1920-05-25
Stock Market Is
Again Dominated
By Bear Traders
Even s Per Cent Renewal
Rate for Call Loans. the
Lowest i'm Weeks. Fails
to Stimu late Buying

Conditions affecting speculative se-
curity values underwent little change
over the end of the week, and the mnr-
ket started out yesterday in rather
desultory fashion, succumbing again
to the attacks Of the professional trad
ing element, which showed itself still
aligned upon the short side. Disre-
garding the fact that the position of
the general run of industrial stocks
must be much stronger than it was
week or two ago, as a result of the
drastic liquidation of speculative ac-
counts and the building up Of large
short interest, the operators working
for lower prices continued to press
stocks for sale.
Stocks suffered more from the ab-
sence Of buying power than from the
pressure of offerings. 1t was demon
strated early that the demand for
stocks except at considerable recess
sions was extremely light, and this
ing feature of the market seemed to be
its thinness on the downward side. 1t
really required only a comparatively
small amount Of selling to force prices
off rather sharply. Had there beer
any kind of demand for stocks such
offerings as appeared would have been
easily absorbed. Apparently, however,
there is no disposition on the part of
the public to buy stocks even at these
levels so long as the business outlook
is clouded and so long as credit
conditions continue strained. This, Of
course, makes it all the easier for the
successfully on the short side. Wall
Street continues to talk of natural
recovery" due to an oversold market
condition, but does not look for any
major movement so far as the con-
structive side is concerned at this
time.
News developments over Sunday were
not particularly important from the
viewpoint of the stock market. The
statement of the local Federal Reserve
Bank indicated the results of the efforts
being made at this center to reduce
member bank borrowings. and the in
and net liabilities showed improvement.
This was disregarded as a favorable
market factor, just as was the 6 per
cent renewal rate for call money yes
terday, the lowest in several weeks.
1t did not take the professional trad
ers long to pound Steel common, which
had closed at x on Saturday, below
90. At S95s the market leader was
fraction under the low made last week
and at new low for the year. With
Steel receding so swiftly in the first
hour of trading. it was not surprising
that the rest of the market should also
decline sharply. Most of the lows for
the day were made shortly after the
opening, after which fair rally took
place, only to be followed by another
sinking spell in the afternoon. Closing
prices of industrials generally ruled
we'll below those of Saturday. somewhat
above the lows made carly in the day.
The low priced oil stocks were among
the weakest issues, Sinclair continuing
the decline begun last week. There was
heavy selling of Sinclair. Railroad
shares, on the whole, acted better than
the industrials, although the movement
in this group was extremely sluggish.
Missouri, Kansas & Texas shares were
weak on selling based on expectations
that the reorganization plans under
consideration will likely involve
heavy assessment upon the stock.
Trading in United States government
war bonds. which reached such large
volume last week, showed slackening
tendency yesterday. The price tone
was steadier and, although there was
some irregularity, the recoveries made
at the end of last week were we'll main
tanned. In the foreign exchange marke.
the strength of rates on the countries
of Central Europe supplied the out
standing development. Sterling, francs
and ike also were firm.