Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-19
FAIR TONE SHOWN
IN STOCK MARKET
Sterling Off to $3.M-Su'
CARS Respond to News.
Bears Press Lightly.
BY STUART p. WEST.

NEW YORK. October 10 Especially
Again today it was a very dull stock
market, most of the time. and the per.
functory Wall street explanation was
again that the market was waiting
for developments in the English coal
strike situation.
The British premier, it was known
was to address parliament in a highly
important speech, and the hesitation
which characterized the trading in
desire to see what the head OF the
British government had to say re-
garding the labor crisis.
The English strike was harped upon
because it happened to be the most
convenient explanation at hand to ac-
count for the inertia in the stock
market. The street always prefers a
specific to general reason and 1t
would rather ascribe the present sus-
pension in speculative activity to the
British labor troubles than to the
state OF industry at home.
ket is doing just what a market al
ways does which has pretty well dis
counted period of industrial depres-
sion. but which is not ready to go
ahead vigorously or in any sustained
way with discounting movement in
the other direction.
Sterling Exchange, 1910.
Another break in sterling exchange
carrying it down to the $40 level,
were episodes of more Importance
than anything which happened in
stocks or bonds. The sterling decline
was a further effort to adjust the in
ternational credit market to the pros
pect of heavy shrinkage in British
rHfo wi hA al skr{l
At today's low sterling was within
little more than 20 cents a pound
above the very extreme bottom reach
ed in the Generalization Of the early
part OF this year, ana there were pre-
dictions that return to this low
level was not at all improbable unless
a speedy settlement were reached with
the coal miners.
The further collapse in wheat was
an interesting reply to the absurd
charge that wheat options have been
depressed. Growers of
wheat. like every other class in the
must finally be brought to
recognize that they are not exempt
from the law Of supply and demand.
and that the grain markets are mere
ly going through their share of the
readjustment which all other COM
modities are experiencing, the prices
Of which were tremendously inflated
during the war.
Sugar stocks Scarce.
The market yesterday had scarcely
had time to respond to the Washing
banking syndicate was prepared to
finance the Cuban sugar crop provid-
ed the Cuban government would issue
it's own bonds to an equivalent of
the American loan. This morning
raw sugar quotations were marked up
q nd ~ ~N3 til a..
ures for refined sugar. Thereuponl
the short interest in the sugar stocks,
which has been considerably overex-
tended. began to cover.
Rally ON Remedial Suggestion.
1t was not until well along in the
afternoon that the Lloyd George
speech began to be printed on the
news tickers. 1t appeared that he 1
was not talking about the coal strike,
but rather was concerned with the
unemployment question. for which GER
lain remedies were proposed.
1nasmuch as yesterdays demonstra-
ton Of the London unemployed had
furnished the excuse for selling the
market down, the publication OF the
remedial program furnished q suita Bile
pretext for recovery
1t was the stocks most reflected of
speculative sentiment on the other
side which had been weakest in yes
terday's decline and it was the same
Mercantile Marines, Cana
dian Pacific and Royal Dutch-which
stood out strongly in the rally this
afternoon. 1t was noteworthy that
despite the report that sales Of cleo
rolytfc copper had been made as low
as Is cents pound the copper stocks
were not unduly depressed. In fact,
most of them stood their ground well.