New-York tribune., 1921-01-31

I ~ Au3NCs
The market is nov in the In between
phase. Not only has the force OF the
fierce December break spent itself, but.
/ the main impact of the immediate re
bound also is over. Last week, dull
ness and inactivity prevailed at the
marketpisce where sscurities and for,
tunes change hands. n
Apathy is a relativN term when an
piled TO the Stock Exchange. What i.
I nowSconsidered session of.intensified
lauguor would hrve fbeen regarded
dsy Of heightened activity a decade
I ago. Back in 1909, when dullness pr.-
Walled for a, long, period after the
market emerged from the period Of
4 disturbed equilibrium originating from
the panic OF 1907, quiet day on the
big board was one in which 5o.ooo
shares ofsstock were hpmrht and sold.
Now market observers, look upon anv
/ f've-hours session in which Tess than
100000 sales take plsce IA inactive.
A milaion-share day n considered a
moderately busy one, and hefor.
brokers begin to feel they ar. having
an extracrdinar /busy session Il is
necessary to brihg the transactions
above 100000. with this new yard
stick OF financefas the guide, each dsy
last week wasfconspicuousry dull. The
volume OF activity kept shrinking ali,
through the fweek.
of coursT. commission brokers thrive
on anything except dullness. The mar
ket mayfgo up or/it may go down, but
orokerH,se profits sre undisturhed. De-
pressWn strikes the board rooms on)v
when public interest in security specu-
iat' Sn wanes, and 1t has now ebbed
msfkedly. OF the small volume Of
ovxsiness done lastlweek, perhaps three
quarters of it pepresented operations
fcf floor traderAfor their own account.
4 Most OF the/rest representing quasi
investment Xbuying, rather than ppr-
chases onfslim margins for quick turns
/ The. miscellany of folk that const; :
tute the public (in a market sense) ia
u out OF the market because they are
tlmid. The shocks of 1920 have de-
pr'ved them of confidence in the sta
p1l1ty of stock. prices. Even though the
era OF sharp declines is at least tenn
porarily over, outsiders prefer to look
on. Meantime, it is up to the profess
sional traders to maintain the con-
tinuity of the market.
! Brokers toward the close of the week
reported more difficulty in byying stock
shHn in selling it, indicating that the
rAart had been relieved of powerful
selling pressure. The expectation in
4 commission houses is that dullness-
the regent which is ruling during the
present intermediate stage at the mar
ketpace-will prevail longer Last
week the tendency Of both industrial
and railroad stocks was toward pro
rressively higher levels by extremely
slight gains each day
The prevalence of the per cent
u rate for call money and the moderate
u upward reaction of time money quota
tions have temporarily discouraged
those who anticipated a sharp break in
the rental charge on credit after the
first of the year. And it is likely that
some large; investors, including insti-
tutional buyers, who purchased bonds
on the theory that interest rates were
soon to drop precipitately, have with
drawn from the money market. Bond
quotations, after their extremely sharp
rally from the low levels Of December,
began to decline slightly Mast week,
partly as result of this Development
Moreover, specifically the rise was
checked by tie exhaustion Of the buy
ing demand which originated from
those purchasing hack securities sold
last month to establish losses for tax
purposes and also Of the demand re-
sulting from 6rst Of the yeer rein
4 vestment conditions. The competition
of new offerings, too, tended perhaps
A to slow up the recovery In bond quota
4 tions, but the ease with which S3O,000,-
; 600 Of per cent Belgian bonds and
s60,000,000 of GA per cent Pennsylva-
MIA Railroad securities were distrib-
uted indicated that fundamentally the
investment market is healthy and i'm
As III IN