Evening star., 1921-12-08
STOCKS ARE SLOW,
AT EASIER PRICES
Position of All Foreign Ex-
change Shows Decided
Improvement.
BY STUART p. WEST.

i NEW YORK, December S-After
ness yesterday the market at the out
set this morning was inclined to rally.
Several 'specialties, among them one
| or two of the oil stocks and some of
the coal stocks. were bid up rather
/ briskIy. This demonstration. how
] ever, failed to impress the market
| generally. and seeing that prices did
! not respond to these special opera
tions the way they did a week ago.
traders drew the inference that the
! at least, was over
Accordingly, as the afternoon be-
gan they turned their attention to the
selling side and prices slipped of gen.
orally.
Moving under the stimulus of the
| Irish settlement. sterling exchange
| continued its recovery. At today's
price rates were up to 10 cents In the
! pound from a week ago and 55 cents
from the extreme low reached last
summer. when, under the clumsy
handling of the first reparations pay
ment, the European currencies were
being driven down to match the alb
| normal imitation of the dollar.
A further 10 per cent advance
would bring sterling back over the
entire ground lost since the early
days OF the war; that is. midway be-
| tween the bottom figure of last July
| and the normal par. The explanation
for the more recent advance cannot
be set down wholly to political de-
velOpment.
The forthcoming statistics of Brit
ish imports and exports of merchan-
disc are also pretty sure to throw
lght upon the movement.
Another n Mt laIt
the whole British financial position,
and likewise a direct response to the
irish move. was an uncommonly
i heavy demand for the United King
dom ponds of the external loan. which
have their primary market in this
country. 1t was the. largest days
trading in these issues, certainly for
| this year, and the SIS Of the 1929
maturity reached a new high level.
The advance in French francs kept
than two weeks the value of the
franc has risen from less than $50
cents to over 1852 cents. In this in
stance the compelling cause is the
hope. which amounts to conviction.
that way will be found out of the
lem which will enable Germany to
make good her obligations without
involving herself in disastrous COL
lapse.
Inc IOTIneT oppression IN French
exchange has reflected the fear that
Germany would not pay.
COppers strong.
In the general weakness of the
afternoon the coppers showed good
strength.
Transc0ntinental OIL.
Two facts which stand out clearly
about the Transcontinental-S STANDARD
Oil of California deal are, first, that
the Transcontinental will be put in
a very strong financial position
through the liquidation of it's floating
Indebtedness and the provision of an
that everything will depend. SO far
as the effect upon Transcontinental
stocks is concerned upon the results
of the exploitation work in Colombia
Through the bond issue authorized
$7,000,000 will be Immediately avail
able for the Transcontinental treas
| ury.
Development work on the lands of
| the Latin American Petroleum Cor
poration, which is now to be handled
by the Standard Oil. has only begun.
Two wells are drilling on the prop
erty and IL these show the hoped for
results it will mean big increase in
earnings OF the Transcontinental and
a considerably higher valuation on
the stock. But it is still quite gam
| BILE what the development work will
| produce. and while affairs are in this
stage there is little to be expected of
Transcontinental stock in the market.
Eries Weak.
After the experience with st. Paul
and Pennsylvania the market is turn
ing it's attention to the securities of
other roads. which, even with the
help afforded by the wage reduction
of last July and by the moderate
gain in general traffic since theR, are
| failing to cover interest charges. The
Erie is in this class by a considerable
margin and selling got into the Erie
stocks today, carrying them down to
or below their very lowest prices of
the year.