Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-17
CRUC|BLE IS ONLY
MARKET FEATURE
Most Other Leaders Move
in Narrow Area, Though
Mainly Upward.
By STUART p. WEST.


disclosed in yesterdays ses-
sion a much better resistance on
drawing near the low levels of May
the market this morning settled down
into extreme dullness. Bearish opera
lions were not renewed in view of the
sharp rebound which came toward the
close last night. Moreover, short SELL
erS were inundated by the costly ex-
perlence which some Of them had in
being short over night of Crucible
Steel.
The action of the Crucible directors
in declaring another stock dividend
this time the equivalent of over Il
per cent-was entirely unexpected.
NOBODY had thought that another
such distribution would come SO soon
after the previous one. AS a result
Crucible Steel opened up eight points.
and while the high prices were paid
by a frightened short interest, the
greater part of the gain was main
tanned.
Market Tone Steady.
Elsewhere the tone of the market
was steady, and as a rule such slight
changes as occurred were in favor
of higher prices. The market was
too dead. however. for any signifi-
canoe to be attached to it, The main
point of interest was that prices had
drawn dangerously near to their lows
OF two months ago. which. had these
been broken. would have been ac-
cepted as a very bad sign. They had,
however. undergone from these low
points very fair rebound. one that
was sufficient to encourage the view
that the critical figures representing
the bottom of the May decline would
not be broken.
Outside of the spectacular jump in
Crucible Steel, the day passed with
very little incident. A few narrow
specialties were bid up. among them
Wells Fargo and Coco Cola Some Of
the motor and tire issues continued
heavy. The rails were irregu-
lar, but in the main inclined to do
better. Sterling exchange dropped
of a cent and a half to 3.S7ls.
One of the new features in today's
bond market was the establishment of
a new high record by the Armour IS.
These bonds. which were brought out
only a week ago at approximately
94N, were $50 bid this morning. This
was the more noteworthy because the
Armour offering of $50 1000. 900 repre-
scented the largest flotation recently
attempted. The premium Of nearly a
point attained on these bonds was
evidence of the excellent absorption
which is going on in all these new
offerings and Of the vitality Of the
Investment demand in general
The Swiss governments at 1913. the
Belgian TVS at 1909, the Pennsyl-
vania Is at 1913 were ali holding their
high prices. although not improving
them.
It was expected that the 5000 900
United States Rubber loan announced
this morning would prove very pop
ular because Of the superabundance
M he til,
such an issue many times over. These
notes will run for ten years and bear
interest at ~ per cent.
They are secured by the hypothe-
cation of $25,000,000 of the present 6
per cent bonds, which at present mar
ket prices represents very ADEQUATE
protection. for the new securities at
par.
The decline in the Interboroueh
Rapid Transit SIS seems to have been
checked for the time being at least.
These bonds made their low at 44Z
Ioday they were quoted above As
again.
support Appears Again.
For the fifth time. the stock market
yesterday ran into support at low
points. where it had met with buying
orders on four previous occasions
since the first of June. This to the
Wall street professionals and experts
was decidedly significant, and it wa.
figured that until this bottom was
broken stocks gave every indi-
cation Of being in the right hands
and were in a position to advance IL
the credit situation would let them.
Crucible shorts Trapped.
Once more the interests who handle
the destinies of Crucible Steel on the
stock exchange made merry with the
bear party. The short interest had
begun to attack Crucible when it got
up around 1872 and had hammered it
down to around 147: then came in the
overnight news-the announcement
that the company had declared an
other stock dividend. the third in
fact--and there was a hurried rush
to buy at the opening today, with the
result that Crucible opened up eight
points from it's closing price last
night This third stock dividend, it is
figured. is about ID per cent, the sec
ond one which was declared in June.
and will come off the stock in a few
days was 16 2-3 per cent
Curb Market.
Trading was unusually small on the
curb market today. and price changes
were confined within narrow limits
The tone held steady throughout the
session. although one or two of the
recent weak features continued heavy
under a moderate supply.