Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-27
MARKET WOBB[ED
ON TIGHT MONEY
Some Weakness at the Outset,
but List Gave Ground
Stubbornly

New York. Oct. 27.--Undoubetdly the
real explanation for the reactionary ten
dcncy of today's stock market was to
be found in the high tension OF the
money market. The banks appear to
be cleaning house pretty thoroughly this
week, as indicated in the further call
ing Of loans this morning and the fixing
of the renewal rate for call money again
at q per cent. The withdrawal of an
by the government tomorrow kept money
pretty tight throughout the session. and
Notwithstanding the greatly curtailed
demand in consequence of the suspended
bullish operations. the supply did not
meet the requirements by long shot.
which naturally foreshadowed another
furry when the belated borrowers en-
deavored to obtain their daily require
ments later in the day.
The uniform weakness Of the list dur
ing the earlier trading. however. was
charged to the professed disappointment
! over the failure of the L. 8. Steel Cor
poration directors to declare an extra
disbursement at their meeting yesterday.
The favorable character of the quar-
terly statement, indicating net earnings
on the common stock for the year Of
approximately II per cent, was entirely
overlooked. Well Informed interests had
no expectation Of an extra dividend at
this time. but judging from the free
| selling of the stock during the first hour.
there were evidently considerable
number who had taken the extra
rumors seriously.
Another contributing unsettling and
restricting influence was ascribed to the
1 rnnnrtnI Irtf ,t, tA
ward Cox. In truth, the professional
an election scare. from which the mar
ket has been singularly free during the
campaign.
Notwithstanding this strong com
bination of unsettling influences the
market altogether gave a good account
Of itself. The weakness at the outset
| proved to be short lived, mainly be
cause the declining prices were not fol.
lowed up by increasing selling pressure
and apparent inability of reactionists t
dislodge any great amount of lonl
stock. To he contrary, the market be
came intensely dull and narrow on tn,
recessions, and before the morning wa
over the more active issues slowly bu
steadily retrieved most of the initial los
of ground.
United States Steel was the out
standing feature at the opening with al
extreme decline of 1B points, whicl
was made the. more noticeable becaus
of the large blocks of stock changin
hands. The independent steel share
ran off IA to points in sympathy, bu
the oils, shipping, sugar and utilit
shares were higher by fractions to owe
point.
With the weakness Of the steels, how
ever, the market became distinctly heav
during the first part Of the morning
virtually the entire list yielding to tn
broadest offerings of the week, althoug
most Of the pressure unquestionabl
emanated from professional source,
Next to the steel group. the equipment
motor, chemical and paper shares wer
| especially vulnerable. Tobacco and rub
Der shares Joined the recession, and ais
the investment rails, the latter howeve
only to q moderate degree. Among Il
junior rails Wisconsin Central was cor
spicuous for its five point loss.
II Before midday selling pressure n
laxed in all parts of the list, when il
regular recoveries set in. led by Il
II steels, oil shares and the cheaper rail