The New York herald., 1921-10-14
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT.
Stock Market Has Confused
.Appearance-German Ex-
change Falls.

Stocks indicated yesterday that specu-
lators for the rise had concentrated their
efforts on domestic petroleum shares. al
lowing manufacturing and railroad Is
sues to drift. The result was con-
fused price list at all times. The lack
{. s~~nand for steel stocks suggested
that the most recent reports from the
trade. which showed that the recent
growth of business In light materials
had not been supplemented by buying
of heavier products, had tended for the
time being to offset In its bearing on
sentiment the percentage Increase OF
plant operation throughout the indus
try in the last two months. The railroad
department sagged under the weight
of uncertainty which hinged on the
movement In the Congress to get rates
down. In the cases OF both those groups
II has been increasingly evident In the
last fortnight that the market has
lacked fresh additions to the force sup
Piled in early September by steel price
advances and Of improved earnings OF
railroads.
It was not clear that stocks were in
fiuenced by foreign events, although the
sharp fall OF German exchange over the
holiday aroused new discussion Of the
International money outlook. which not
only is perplexing to interests engaged
In foreign trade, but Is Undoubtedly re-
pressive on bushes In all countries. Fol-
lowing fall Of 10 points. actually IL
per cent, In the mark quotation In Lon
don on Wednesday. the rate was marked
dow here TO II Of a cent, new low rec
ord. There evidently was q rush to sell
marks in the British centre as result
of new phases Of the Silesian contro-
versv and the threatened disruption OF
the German Government II the separa-
ton of Upper Silesia from Germany is
affirmed. AS a market factor. the ST.
iesian situation. presumably. cannot yet
he measured. Although the European
exchanges were unsteady In yesterdays
early transactions, a recovery occurred
later and business was slack More
light on the German outlook is likely
IN appear when the time for meeting
next months reparations instalment
shall arrive.
Yesterdays rise Of petroleum stocks
had more power and reached into
wider list than did their Improvement
Of last week The fact that several
Standard Oil shares In the outside mar
ket. which lately had been sluggish, were
carried forward briskly showed that the
stimulus Of higher prices. OF. crude OIL
and refined products had reached wider
proportions than had speculative stir
ring of independent company shares
The question may be raised whether
that advance was an extenAion Of effort
to discount coming business enlargement
or merely a temporary evening of share
prices with the improved asset position
Of producing and refining concerns.
FIyery cent added to crude and refined
oil prices means millions of dollars In
crease of inventory values. But 1t
would be strange If sustained upturn
Of oil stocks should occur without aid
from an improved situation of business
as. whole
The weekly Reserve Bank statement
contained some unusual figures In the
gold reserve. For the first time since
the week Of November 19. 1920. the Re-
serve systems gold reserve declined, and
that despite large inportations OF the
metal. The contraction as compared
with that Of the preceding week was
ss.e77,000, and examination OF the re-
port showed that the shrtnkage was ac-
counted for mainly By . decline Of
s2s, $4,000 In the hands Of Reserve
agents. Fluctuations In 1920 from week
70 week contained numerous recessions,
but this years inflow Of new metal from
abroad had kept the figures headed In
one direction Due to that movement
and a gain Of s2s,soo. 900 in bill hold
ings. the reserve ratio went from 50
per cent to 6s.5 per cent.