Evening star., 1921-05-07
MOTORS ARE WEAK
0NCHEvROLETCUT
Higher Rates on Foreign Ex-
change-Playing a Game in
United States Realty.
BY 8. p, WEST,

NEW YORK. May There were
two opposing considerations in this
mornings stock market. One was the
announcement, which came after
business hours yesterday. that the
federal reserve bank in the Chicago
district had followed the example OF
the banks in Boston, New York and
Atlanta, and had reduced its discount
rate on commercial loans.
The other was the sharp price cut
made public by the Chevrolet Motor
Company.
Inasmuch as the first piece of news
had been expected, it did not cut As
| much figure as the second news item.
which was quite unexpected Ever
since the turn came in the motor in
dustrN. a little over a month ago.
opinion has been divided AS to wheth-
| er 1t was the beginning of an impor-
tant new forward movement or sim
| ply recovery which would fare up
for a while and then die down.
/! The extraordinary rise in Stude-
baker. and the ten point advance in
stocks like Chandler and Pierce Ar
row rejected the belief that the up
| turn would continue. and it was nat
ural that the announcement Of the
price reduction by the Chevrolet
| should have given very much of a jar
10 this speculative position.
Selling the Motors
All the motor shares broke sharp
ly right AT the start, and the selling
continued through the first hour. aft
er which there was a moderate raj
ly. Stocks of tire companies, which
have been influenced by the cam
paign in the motors. were not as
| much affected. In fact, they held up
| remarkably well. The weakness in
| the motor group unsettled the gen.
1tCf hn ma N
the session. but in the final deal
| ings. fresh buying appearing in some
! of the railway shares, the oils and
| one or two specialties brought about
a firmer tone
Such test as the days operations
| imposed was altogether in favor of
| the conclusion that the general mar
ket position, outside of one or two
groups, has not been weakened by
| the rise of the last few days
! After two days of reaction the ad-
vance was resumed in sterling ex-
| change, which went to a new high
French francs and Italian lire con-
| tinued to push ahead.
Both grain and cotton lost pretty
much all yesterdays improvements
| brought about by the unfavorable
| summary of recent crop developments
put out by the Department OF Agri-
| culture.
United States Realty.
| The street was willing to give the
realty pool full credit for clever
handling of the market situation.
From it's standpoint Thursdays dis
| closures regarding the coming an
| nual report was quite premature.
| These things were to have been Kept
from the public until there had been
a chance to work the stock up to
higher levels.
| In order to nullify the effect of
this advance information. it was nee
! essary to make the market for Real
ty shares yesterday to look as unre-
sponsive and unattractive as posi-
BILE. This was done and had the de-
sired effect of inducing some of the
outside following which had two or
three points profit to cash in
ness of discouraging unwelcome
hangers-on was to jump the stock
up violently. Accordingly. the open
| ing sales of Realty this morning We're
| of SAY. and few people had the te-
merity to follow up SO sharp and sud
den a rise. 1t was not until the stock
crossed 81 that it was realized what
a skillful piece of handiWork hau
been put through.
Sinclair Oil Outlook.
| Reference to dividend action is
| one of the main points of circular
| just put out by a Broadway wire
| house on the Sinclair Consolidated
! Oil Corporation. This circular says
| that, in view of the increased busl-
ness and earnings. there Is every rea.
son to believe that some sort or
| cash disbursement will begin in the
| not distant future. The writer OF
creased in 1920 from cdose etaoi c
| the circular says that the gross
business of the Sinclair company in
| creased in 1920 from close to sn:-
! 100000 to we'll over $166,O0O.oo"'
! while net earnings before deprecia-
| ton increased from close to so
! 100000 to above $30.0OO.OO0. the
| company's production in the United
| States last year was S,4SS.OOO bar
rels, an increase of approximately
one million barrels over the amount
! produced in 1919. The Mexican pro-
| duction amounted to 11.250. 600 bar
rels, an increase of close to 6'23oUeo
! barrels over the previous year Inc
company is represented in virtual "
! every important oil field in this
! country. while its acreage in Mexico
! is very large.