New-York tribune., 1922-08-29

Movement I'm
Stock Prices
Announcement of FOrd'sl
Decision to Close Down,
r lants a Factor im
the Downward Treaad

Henry Ford's announced decision to
close down his plants in the middle of
next month. owing to the exhaussion
of coal reserves, stripped of the par
ticular and sensational interest attach
ing to the man, was typical of the un-
settling forces which operated to i'm
pair the full breadth of umlerlying5
optimism in yesterdays stocA. market
and to cause a price reactiop. of some
consequence. The bituminous coal
strike has been settled, the. shcpmen's
strike is petering out with victory rest
ing with the roads, and the crop and
money outlooks are indtsputably ex-
cellent. All these things contribute to
the return OF prosperity, but they are
not in themselves sufficient to restore
good times and occasionally Wall
Street registers recognition of that
fact.
Yesterday was such an occasion.
Ford's action was unsupported by other
announcements of similar import. but
it called attention to the fact that a
nearly five months interruption Of nor
NAL coal production and movement can
not be without restricting effect upon
industry. Coupled with this was the
drifting situatiosl in the railroad strike
and the continuing deadlock in the
anthracite inspirations, both bringing
more imminent the threat of govern
ment seizure. The foreign news also
was not encouraging. The speculative
community has for some time neglected
this, but yesterday it's attention was
forcibly called to the seriousness of
the situation by sharp break in
French government and municipal Sc
curities, In the light of these circnm-
stances and of existing technical con-
ditionss 1t was, perhaps, not unnatural
that moderate selling of stocks was the
order of the day. Pool operations for
the rise were unable to make much
headway against this trend beyond
pu shing to higher levels few tobacco
and public utility stocks.
The reaction in stock prices was
paralleled in the bond market. Aside
from the decline in French bonds. ex-
tending to as much as 8 points, the
seml-speculative rails developed weak
| ness and the list generally was unset
tied. Liberty bonds comprised the
steadiest division. Money was not
an important consideration in either
department, renewing at 3& and firm
ing TO per cent at the close.
There was some attempt to read into
the slight further recovery of francs,
lire and marks more hopeful view of
the European prospect, but the
moderate gains were no more than
would properly follow the sharp de- 4
cline recently experienced. Interna-
tional bankers placed little confidence
In results from the suggestion that
Germany submit to receivership to be
administered by American and other
| impartial interests and examination oe
the news likewise failed to disclose
much promise of an effective decision
at the impending meeting of the
Reparatior Commission. An increase
of 10.o0o,0oo,0o0 marks in German
note circulation Offset any construc-
tive Interpretation attaching to the
marking up of the bank rate to 7 per
cent. Sterling and the late neutral
exchanges gave fractional ground as
the other currencies recovered.
| Cotton prices netted gains of % to
35 points on weather news. trading be-
ing fairly confident despite proximity
of the government report. Wheat
variously advanced, reacted and rose
On short covering to close M to is
cents higher.