The New York herald., 1921-03-01
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Active Stocks Decline in Pro-
fessional Market - Steel
Shares Yield Ground.

New constructive features were lack
Ing yesterday In developments bearing
on the markets. and In consequence
with considerable success. Recessions
ran from point to more than points
among active shares. speculation for
thu fall following lines OF least resist
week. II was not surprising that rub
ber. shipping and chemical issues were
again pressed back, for they are in
cluded in the group whose future re-
outside the unexpected that steel COM
pany stocks should react with greater
force than before. The outstanding fact
making for uncertainty In the steel
trade Is the attitdue OF the Steel Cor
poration toward wages and prices So
long rs a barrier stands in the way OF
free play Of economic forces In the
steel market IT is certain that steel
company shares will be vulnerable TO
speculative operations. the more so as
comment in the industry indicates that
expectation OF price concessions is an
important influence against the placing
OF new contracts.
Stocks which gave ground easiest were
Atlantic. Gulf and West Indies Ameri-
can Woolen, International Paper, Sears
Roebuck & Co. United States Rubber
and Steel common. Some of the railway
issues, including Lchigh Valley. North
ern Pacific and Reading. were under
pressure, losing a point or moro. but the
tendency toward lower levels was not
uniform among tho carriers, and num-
Der OF them went higher. The stock
market divided with cotton the attention
devoted to events Of the day. and It was
reasonable to assume that connection
existed between their progress in recess
sion. Spot cotton got down to 11.25
cents a pound, loss of more than a
half cent from Saturdays final quota
ton. and news from Southern centres
Gated that the banks were continuing
their task Of having farmers loans re-
duccd before arrangements were made to
finance the new crop. Cotton Is a de-
cidedly interesting subject for study
Measuring the rate of consumption
against the probable world demand GER
tain observers OF trade conditions predict
a probable carry over from the current
$,,Jg, hal
possibility of such development can
not help but operate against normal
planting this spring; but, In the mean
time, II Is question whether forced
liquidation will enable tho producers of
last years output to enter a comfortable
position with their banks. What the
stock market sees In the presence OF the
March option under IL cents pound
and In the persistent fall Of the other
contracts Is evidence OF reduced pur-
chasing power among the growers.
power to buy extensively Of the many
products which were In great demand
when cotton was selling higher than 80
cents and wheat was at s2.25 busheL
The Street awaited with great interest
happenings at the London conference on
the German reparation. but only pre-
Iiminary details came through during
the day. The foreign exchanges re-
fiected no degree OF perturbation. ster-
ling advanced a full cent to 3.s71a, and
other rates were fairly steady. Thoughts
about the meeting OF allied and Ger
man representatives appeared to tend
more to slow down business in the mar
kets rather than to cause advances or
declines. Transactions In sterling. francs
and marks we're reported on q decidedly
small scale. In financial circles some
anxiety was expressed over the possi-
bllity OF fresh military operations by
France but the impression of greater
weight was that the German leaders
would yield rather than face invasion.
But however the problem shapes up In
detail. the financial community is hoping
more than anything else that settle
uent will be arrived at before the con-
ference adjourns.
Call money was at Z per cent. The
demand for loans was light
|