Evening star., 1921-04-30
M0TORSARE THE
MARKETLEADERS
Traders Ignore Usual Bear
Factors-SteeI Arraignment
Without EffeCt-N0tes.
By s. T.. WEST.

NEW YORK, April 3o.-The change
which has come over Wall street
sentiment during the last few weeks
was strikingly instanced by two epi-
sodes in the market today. First. tn"
complaint brought against the Steel
CORPORATION by the Federal Trade
Commission passed almost unnoticed.
1t had practically no effect upon the
steel shares.
Second. the 20 per cent cut in tire
prices announced by the Goodrlch
Company was followed no. by Ary de-
cline in the tire shares. bGt. on the
contrary. these stocks were the van
guard of the advance.
when the market was on its down
ward path last autumn, and WINTER
price-cutting was a bear argument
it was invariably the signal for a
smash in the shares of the companies
concerned. Now it is possible Tor ln-
dustrial corporations TO annDunce re,
ductionS in their price ScAeuultS anu
see their stocks move up.
This is only another way OF stating
what has been so often OBSERVED IN
the operations of the last month;
namely that what ordinarily "ou!u
be cons DaU news it's7 NN''7 -
count, while everything that IS at an
encouraging is magnitied as an lnlu :
ence upon the peculatjve movements
The Case AEninst steel.
The charge of unfair price fixing
brought against the Steel Corporation
is unde niably serious. II II were es-
tablished in the courts and the system
OF "Pittsburgh plus quotations We're
done away with, it would mean heavy
loss. In fact. it is the arransenle!lt
which enables the Steel Corpora ton to
actually benefit by rate increase which
is largely accountable for the way IN
which its earnings have held up IN com
parison with most OF its competitors.
But in the present temper Of the market
this incident was treated as II 1t were
a remote contingency which need not
be taken seriously into the present reck-
oning.
Buying Accessories.
Heavy buying of the motor. tire.
motor accessory and various other
specalties kept on until the last haIf
hour. To a large extent the upturn IN
stocks, like Pierce Arrow. kelly-Sprins.
field and L. S. Rubber was the work OF
large operators who have overstayed
their position on the short side.
When this buying subsidized. as it did
toward the end of the day. there was
quite a sharp reaction in stocks which
Petroleum rallied only moderately on
the denial by one of the heads of the
company of the alarming reports that
were in circulation yesterday regarding
the outlook in the Mexican oil terri
tory.
Motor Combinations.
In the motor group Pierce-Arrow
took the lead with violent run up
4 from around Sc to above 40 in the
space OF few minutes. All sorts of
rumors regarding motor combinations
. are coming from the automobile CEN
ters these days. and the latest one
which arrived this morning talked of
a merger in which Pierce-Arrow and
several others. including StUde baker.
would figure. This. of course. hooked
up the name of Durant as the guiding
genius IN several quarters in Wall
street the move of Pierce Arrow was
thought to be short covering, as
brokers who are known to act for a
large bear operator were the prin-
cipal buyers of the stock. The move
in Pierce-Arrow carried along most
of the other motors.