Evening star., 1922-12-21
BULLS GAIN UPPER
HAND IN MARKET
Amazing Rise in Mexican
Pete Leads All Stocks in
Today's Advance.
BY STUART p. WEST.

bH SIN Al
Special Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK, December ol.-Opera-
tions for the rise held the upper hand
IN today's stock market.
It was the same narrow professional
speculation that has been going on
for a fortnight or more. but the main
point was that professional efforts to
advance prices encountered no
formidable amount of realizing. In
this there was further testimonies.
even only Of negative sort, OF the
confidence with which holders of the
more representative industrial stocks
feel regarding the outlook.
OIL shares Lead Market
There was very little In the way or
news to influence the various price
movements Oil shares were the lead
ers of the market. but not because OF
any developments in the oil trade
itself.
The best opinion Is that the statis-
t,cal position has so improved that
higher prices for both crude oil and
refined products are likely TO he
seen early In the new year. Hut
the more Immediate incentives today
were found in a sensational jump IN
Mexican Petroleum and buying OF a
very eager sort in California Petro-
leur. lnasmuch as there is ohIy !"
per cent of the original MeAlcan
Petroleum now outstanding. 1t would
he an easy matter for spectators
TO mark the price up almost at Will.
but Wall street was inclined to credit
rumors of another piece OF favorable
y g,,t.f~ " e.
this time In the shape OF a large
extra distribution in cash.
Heavy short Covering.
Crdoubtediy. speculative element
had in mind the historic precedent of
a rising market on Christmas eve-a
precedent which has scarcely ever
been broken. even under the most
siderable short covering. and with the
course Of the day. the advance. which
at frst had been confined to only
some dozen or so stocks. became fair
ly general throughout the industri al
section. Railway shares as rule.
were rather sluggish. but there were
some exceptions notably Lehigh Nal-
ley, where special inducement was
found in the plan expected soon. for
the segregation of the coal properties.
Sterling Goes Higher.
For the first time IN quite a while.
the stock market provided more In
.erest than the commodity markets.
Fluctuations in the latter were COM
para,ively small. The most important
occurrence outside the Stock Ex-
change was the renewal OF the ad-
vance In sterling. which was back
over half the ground lost during the
reaction early in the week. The chief
Significance in this new forward
movement lay in the answer 1t gave
that the run-up of week ago to ass
was largely the work of speculation.
Mexican Pete Puzzlins.
The most remarkable part about
the rise in California Petroleum today
was that II proceeded in the face OF
all sorts Of statements and denials
calculated TO have a discouragins
effect.
Nevertheless, California Petroleum
kept moving ahead on very heavy
trading. II acted as a stock would
act in which accumulation was openly
going on. The street believed tha,
set about securing 1t in the open
market.
The November results of the Asso.
ciated Dry Goods Corporation hav,
been determined. and they are under
stood to be very favorable exceeding
come Of November. 1921. On the basi,
Of the figures for the first clever
months and fair estimates of what
December will show. tt Is calculated
that Associated Dry Goods net earn.
ings on the common stock after pre-.
ferred dividends and all charges viii
be more than $14 a share. as against
the present 81 annual dividend rate
This will be the largest year in the
corporations history.
Pond Creek Coal Active.
Pond Creek Coal resumed its adj
vance and reached a new high price
for 1922 on active buying. On Tues.
day the street received the first In.
ttmatton OF what was reported to be
an impending sale of the propert,
when the stock opened up I points
The following day there was some
profit taking and comparatively less
interest was shown. But today Pond
Creek was feature of the market.
Directors of Pond Creek met recently.
but save for optimistic reference to
the company's affairs gave no definite
Information about any deal. How
ever. certain people in the Street have
believed all along that s35 a share
would be the price Pond Creek would
ask for its stock in any outright
purchases.
Royal Dutch Also Strong.
Royal Dutch advanced today on the
announcement that the company had
just brought in a 5O.00O- barrel well
on the Santa Barbara tract In
Venezuela. General Asphalt common
moved ahead. with Royal Dutch on
the news. although the latter COM
pany Is not interested in the new well.
General Asphalt recently turned over
its interests Of approximately 25 per
cent of the Burlington Investment
Company to Royal Dutch for royalties
in certain other properties.
LehiKh Leads Rails.
Railway shares. neglected at the start.
we're taken UP in the afternoon under
the lead Of Lehigh Valley, Reading and
Southern Pacific. In the case of the
first two. the remodeled plans for seq
regating the coal PROPERTIES are due at
any time now and the idea that these
will be favorable from a market stand
point was back Of the buying Tho rice
IN Southern Pacific followed the rub
lication Of the November earnings show
ing an increase Of S2.277,00O over tie
month last year. On the other hand.
the comparison with October Is not SO
favorable.
Among the industrials the early
gains were fairly well sustained. al
though in the last hour there was a
good deal Of scattered realizing from
the professional following The tobac-
cos as a group were ,oasplclously
strong. especially Retail Stores and To-
bacco Products. which were. responding
to the disclosure that earnings for the
present year will break all records,