Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-01-22
CLOSING MARKET
VERY IRREGULAR
Weeks Demonstrations in Spe.
ciaIties impaired Artificial
Strength to List

New York, Jan. o2.-The week closed
with an irregular and altogether color
less traders stock market today. An
extensive drive against the leading spec .
rlativc issues was made Mt the opening,
bringing declines from l to points.
The movement. however. soon spent its
force, and before the ond Of the first
hour free covering o. the short in
tcrcst set in. Tho earlier declines were
ruickIy retrieved and the rebound quite
animated in the stools. oils. equipments
md other issues subjected to pressure
nj tho outset and In tho breaks yestcr =
day afternoon The whole performance
was without significance in that apart
from the familiar week end evening
IN Of the professionals speculative in
tcrCst was at very low level. After
getting back on parity with last
nights closing level the entire list drifted
in an indolrnt manner.
The highlv snccir,izcd character OF
he trading un1uestionahly robbed the
wcrk's forward movement in security
va,ncs of much significance. With in
trrpst and activity concentrated in com
varatively few selected industrial spe-
cialties. generally known to be sus-
''IlllN' 10 IN''l iltlll Illitll ''li' N'N
hct was given tone OF arthcln'
strength. At different intervals. the
movement seemed 10 be quite real,
rather than of the forced character as
II was. and there were unmlstaEnolc
possibilities for time Of II budding into
genuine bullish denomination.
Unfortunately for the market. the
leadership selection was extremely poor.
In fact rather thnn being inspiring. the
various demonstrations invited suspi-
zion. more so because Of the conSnlCu-
ouS tendency Of the more representative
shares to mark time rather than par
tiCipating in the seeming inward trend
or what some market Observers have
teen pleased TO call the traditional Jan :
uarv rise.
No one will deny the market was en-
'itlrd to n substantial recovery from
the extreme low levels established last
month. No one can deny. likewise
.,~c has hccn n wonderful change IN
the mental attitude Of the market
| world. Neither will any one deny the
! situation is much better than was prog
| nOStiCatcd loss than month ago. Many
! Of last months gloomy predictions have
| thus far failed notably Of fultllmont. 1t
! IS doubtful il many Of them ever vii. be
! fulfilled ON the other hand. there has
! been no indi alton yet of the indnStral
! rusincSs commercial and credit Sltua =
! ton having reached the stage where
IN unre>traincd bull movement is fcas-
be. The average price of the active
Industrial stocks at the top prices oi
: he week stood over ten points from low
! water mark of December; that of the
rails approximately 5 points. This Is
fairly substantial recovery consider
! ,ng conditions. More especially wher
| nj Indications point to 1t being n dis
| ;huting rather than an accommodating
| market.
\ number of significant and reliable
~ have been detected Indicating con
~tr,rtivr changes in the economic anC
Mdalarutal conditions. As these are
.ao>tly in the preliminary rather thar
.rystallizing stages, it undoubtedly vii
- a Safeguard to still practice caution
! nd discrimination until the points OF
observation are cleared to make safe
~rrkcuing of the chartered speculative
l seas.