The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-22
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Heavy S~lling of Stocks Forces
Pl1rsAs D0wn-Libertys
Are Weaker.

a vast flood Of selling orders poured
into the security market yesterday. fore
ing industrial stocks to new low records
for the year and bringing weakness into
the the Liberty bond list comparable to
that incurred n the sudden decline Of
Monday afternoon. While the turnover
Of stocks was not so heavy as on two
sessions of last April and March, 1t was
lie largest seen IN several frouths, and
BY far the greatest since the autumn
,ioui6atins movement got under way.
Tns number Of shares dealt 81 sstab-
lisn45 new higr record for the year
&c 6st- Less than fifty OF the 400 dlf-
seren' Issues IN which there was trad
Ing showed gains a. Ire end CT the DAY,
an6 net declines among industrial and
railroad shares ran iroT Q tc and 6
points Several Of the newer steeI and
allied stocks. including ReploEis Steel
and Vanad,um Corporation. bro;.e down
mentioned. and in the case Of old estab-
liehed issues It appeared at times az
though nothing except supporting orders
in Steel common prevented much seveTer
declines than actually were recorded.
After Steel dropped to a new low price
Of 76M for 1890. the price recovered
to II under what looked like orders
put in to lend stability TO TIE stock.
There was a moderate rally near the
end OF the session. but hardly OF pro-
portions sufficient to remove an APP
pearance of weakness from u mar
ket that obviously contained little vigor-
out buying power, for the time at least
This narration OF events suggests no
new explanation for the continued de-
cline OF stocks. The size of offerings in
certain OF the manufacturing and the
sitous selling OF the same quality which
preceded the day when income tax pay
nents fell due last week One was able
to make a wide selection of rumored
forced liquidation Of accounts whose
margins had become impaired: the clos
ing out Of bank loans because lenders
were unwilling TO accept the collateral
offered; tie selling OF stocks by wealthy
spectators who had become tired OF
contemplating large paper losses and
desired TO record their losses for ap-
pearance IN income tax returns. Prob
ably all these factors were Of accour.
in the days decline, and each and ali
Of them could be gathered Under tho
general head of aftermath Of previous
extravagant speculation for the rise
The fact that several spec.al:ies which
blossomed brightly IN the boom Of last
spring were forced down with especial
violence brought the thought &c some
trading quarters that the great fail Of
prices was coming to climax. But "a
! asmuch as the stock market Is wont 20
go to extremes in either direction. q 3
within the capabilities OF no observer 10
predict with surety the eliminating steps
OF broad movement
Liberty bonds rallied early In the day.
but only to head into fresh onslaught
OF sales which brought net declines of
"a point to u points. The total of all
bond sales was the largest for tho yeac
Government issues accounting for most
OF the business done. and the demand
for standard rail and many Industrial
bonds was large enough to prevent any
thing more than a heavy price tone
While the liquidation Of Liberty bonds
and Victory notes has expanded substan-
TALLY this week over last week, the
growth has not yet reached the extent
Of sales in the final ten days of 1919.
Call money eased off from to per
cent after most OF the days demand
had been met ut the higher rate. In
the cotton market the existing state OF
unsettled prices was affected by the fall
OF stocks and bonds, with the result OF
causing a decline OF about half cent q
pound IN the several options, new low
records being reached around i4h cents
pound. Grain prices also fell back for
cent bushel loss. following an
upturn in tho initial dealings at Chicago.
Foreign exchange rates moved forward
at the opening. but Joined the decline
later, and the last quotation Of 3.5OI
for sterling sight drafts was Iss cents
lower than on Monday. Tho rate on
Montreal again reached upward 70 a
new high point, rejecting the Dominion's
unfavorable trade balance. which has not
yet been Offset by shipments of gold or