New-York tribune., 1920-07-30
Wall Street is Now
More Hopeful Over
Credit Situation
Stock Market Undergoes
Moderate Improvement
as Professionals Cover
Shorts; Break in Sterling

Speculative Wall Street attached con-
siderable Importance yesterday to the
optimistic remarks of Governor Har-
ding of the Federal Reserve Board rel
ative to the underlying soundness of
the credit situation. This made for
improvement in sentiment and served
as a basis for a moderate recovery in
stock prices. The market. of course,
WAS in a position to respond, to favor
able developments as q result of it's
drastic decline in the early days of the
week. Many stocks were I'M an over
sold condition and it did not require
heavy volume of buying to bring
about substantial recoveries. THE turn
over of business was about the same as
on Wednesday.
Borrowers at the Stock Exchange
obtained call money at per cent after
outstanding loans had been renewed
on an 8 per cent basis. This was also
construed favorably and wa.a an i'm
portant influence in causing the profess
sional bear traders to rapurchase
stocks for short covering purposes. 1t
was the buying by this element which
was mainly responsible for the better
timent is yet to improve Sufficiently to
bring about any active speculative
buying for the rise.
The stock market following inter
preted the remarks of Govnl Nor Har-
ding on the credit situation as being
the most reasuring development in sew
eral weeks. The head of the, Reserve
Board is noted for his cons ervatism,
and when he was quoted as saying that
10 ot,o
over the financial outlook this. was ac-
cepted as being tantamount o an ad-
mission that the banking authorities
have the credit situation welN in hand.
OF. course, no one who understands
fundamental conditions as they exist at
present looks for any important easing
OF money rates for long time ito come,
but 1T is gratifying to learn THAT the
situation is we'll in hand, and the
country will enter the fall s.ason of
abnormally heavy credit demands for
crop moving purposes in re asonably
strong position. According to Gov
ernor Harding there has beenl marked
improvement in the movement of cars
in the Middle West, which has made
possible the release of millions of dol
lars in frozen" credits. This should
IN due course Of time result in reliev-
ing the banks Of a heavy burdi,n.
Attempts were made during the
course of the session vest erday to
bring out fresh liquidation of specu-
lative holdings of stocks, but the pro
fessional short sellers found the mar
ket offering much greater resistance
than on recently preceding DIS VS.. When
the efforts to depress prices failed and
money rates eased off buying orders
began to appear in increasing volume.
In the late afternoon the recovery be-
came quite pronounced in a number of
issues. Railway equipment shares
were among the leaders on the rally.
Low--priced rails also joined in the up
ward tendency on fairly active trading.
Fresh weakness developeds in the for
elgn exchange market yestd rday, with
rates. on London breaking to a new
low level for the movement. Sterling
receded fully 3 cents from the closing
level of the day before and was at the
lowest level in more than three months.
AS was pointed out fortnig hit ago. the
exchanges are feeling the fleets of a
much heavier outward movement of
American wheat. Exports of wheat have
increased two or three fold ihis month.
with the result that the foreign ex,
change market has had to- absorb a
much larger volume of grain bills,