Evening star., 1920-06-17
MARKET IS DULL;
PRICES ARE LOWER
CruCible Steel Leads the De-
cline; Some Weak
Rails.
BY STUART p. WEST.
stan CorrespOndent.

BY STUART p. WEST.
Stan Correspondent.
WALL STREET, New York, June II
1T was another dull, uninterestins
stock market today, with interes
confined to a dozen or so special is
sues moving for special reasons. II
the general list there was scarcel!
any tendency one way or the other
, but. inasmuch as the speciality move!
were almost all on the side of high
er prices, the prevailing tone in the
market generally was steady.
At the opening the Street professee
the Crucible Steel directors in re
ducing the cash dividend to 8 pei
cent after distributing the extra stocl
dividend. But it was figured out thai
with the seventy-five shares of new
stock which goes to every holder OF
100 shares of the old the yearly casf
distribution to present owners Will pt
IA per cent. instead of the previous
IL. Actually Crucible Steel went
down because the good news so lona
expected was out, and even ten points
off from it's top as the stock was
there were tempting profits still LEFT
in speculative hands.
The sharp decline in Crucible. which
has been one of the market leaders
furnished a test for the whole list as
business began. During the first hour
or so prices came down half point
to point. but there was no selling OF
consequence, and traders short OF
stocks soon started to take in their
contracts. This covering. along with
fresh buying in a number of selected
stocks. brought about rally at mid
day, after which the market settled
down into extreme apathy. Some OF
the individual moves were interesting
Industrial Alcohol shot up nearly four
points in the space of quarter of an
hour. Haskell and Barker had stmt.
Lar swift advance. The buying In the
chemical shares concerned in the mer-
ger deal continued. carrying Barrett
above $50, and bringing new high
prices for National Analine and Gen.
eral Chemical. The stocks Of shoe
manufacturing companies, which last
month were among the weakest. raj
lied on what looked to be short cover
Ing. Sugar shares were again decid-
edly strong.
The reasons for the special strength
in all these stocks have SO often been
pointed out that they must be thor
oughly familiar. The striking thing
today was the extreme ease with
which stocks like Industrial Alcohol
and Haskell & Barker went up. in
around anything like their recent
selling price. United States Food
Products made a fair response to the
declaration Of the regular dividend
and the accompanying announcement
that the entire years requirements
had been covered out Of the profits
Of the first quarter. A large part Of
these profits are being derived. OF
course. from the sale Of denatured
alcohol which is now commanding
fabulous prices.
Missouri Pacific.
The peculiar weakness In Missouri
Pacific preferred. st. Louis Southwest
ern common and Denver and Rio
Grande preferred continued today and
because 1t was so obviously not a part
OF any general downward movement
in this class Of stocks. For the most
part low-prfced rails were very little
dealt in and were only slightly
changed in price. Even Missouri
while the preferred was coming out
in large blocks. All this indicated
that the selling was Of a special sort
unconnected with considerations Of
value or with the railway situation in
general II had been thought yester-
ficular members Of the Gould railway
group was coming from abroad. But
today 1t developed that these three
stocks were being sold for account
OF tho Gould estate in connection with
the suit which one brother and sister
brother for an accounting. This SELL
Ing was described as ''necessitous," :"
and. like the same selling which has
been going on for tho last week at
Intervals. was handled by only two or
three houses.
Liberty bonds Lost today all Of what
little they had gained yesterday. but the
net ductuation OF tho two-dAy period
was too t1fdfng to even be considered.
There was again quite lot Of interest
In foreign government securities. Trad
ing in United Kingdom Of Great Britain
heavy. bat with the exception Of the
53ss Of 1879, which were up a fraction.
prices were unchanged. The Kingdom
OF Italy shs continued to be dealt in
at 95A and the city Of Paris at 9z to
s.M.
Railway bonds were irregular.
baltimore and Ohio 6a. which were
getting down to S6. and New York
Central debenture Is were on a trifle.
The new equipment notes held their
ground and appeared to have a very
satisfactory market despite the large
output Of this class of securities. The
Pennsylvania sevens around 101 are
believed to have completed the neces-
sary reaction after their rise to close
to 1o3- No new fotations were an
nounced during the course OF the
day, vut the Great Northern plan. the
object of which will be to meet the
$2O, 200, 900 notes maturing in Sep
tember. Is looked for very shortly.
Sugar Stocks.
The sugar stocks continue to be
strong today. The sharp advance in
this group this week has been due
in great part to technical conditions
and the running in of the short in
terest- However. it can be said also
that there has been some very good
buying for long account in the sugars
at the present level Of prices. It is
explained by Wall streets sugar ex-
perts that while all of the companies
have made big profits this year they
stand to better this years earnings
next year.
The case of Cuban Cane Sugar is
ono in point This company sold
quite a bit of its crop at around Z
cents with yearly average Of II
cents. However, it is said that the
next crop will undoubtedly be sold at
has been some talk of a dividend on
Cuban Cane common at the next
meeting. but this is thought hardly
possible in certain quarters.
Had the market been capable Of re-
spending to anything it would have
had to take some account OF the fur
ther jump in sterling exchange, which
carried the rate up above s.ss and com
pleted an advance OF over 10 cents
In the pound within little more thar
a week AS already pointed out here
this movement in sterling, along with
the persistent and heavy accumulation
of gold by the Bank of England. are