The Washington times., 1922-07-02


The financial district was agog
with rumors Of every description
concerning the terrible punishment
which was to be meted out to the
bears who had unwittingly sold
themselves into a vacuum in Mexi-
can Petroleum. That stock opened
at 1874, and before the end Of the
day had risen some 20 points to the
highest price reported for II in a
couple Of years. An important factor
In that advance was the statement
of the stock exchange authorities
which they exonerated everybody
closely connected with Mexican
Petroleum from activity in engineer
ing, a corner in the stock.
Rail Stocks Advance.
After this incident had been closed
the stock market settled back to q
more even tenor, and, despite the
decline in the general demand for
speculative stocks, price tendencies
In practically every department Of
the market were upward. The rail
road stocks seem to thrive on bad
news and II was significant that the
more unfavorable the industrial rail-
road situation became the better
support was forthcoming for railroad
stocks. not few of which made new
high prices for the year to date. The
leader In the railroad group, was
easily New York Central, but q
prominent part was taken by Balti-
more and Ohio, st. Paul, Great
Northern preferred, Pennsylvania,
Pere Marquette, Union Pacific and
Canadian Pacific. Shipping stocks
exhibited some Of their old time form
this week, and showed a substantial
recovery from the stump from which
they suffered in the bear drive of a
few weeks ago. Equipment and
motor stocks Just about held their
own. steel stocks made fractional
advances, while the oils and coppers
were somewhat reactionary.
In the care Of the Oil stocks, 1t
was felt that their technical position
had been more impaired than the
balance Of the stock list, due 10 the
considerable advance made by them
in recent weeks, and that they were,
therefore, more responsive to at
tacks by short sellers.
Market Strong.
Contrary to general expectations,
the market remained strong in the
last two days Of the week and show
ed no effects of pre-holiday hQuida-
ton which usually makes its appear
ance about this time, but which
market observers are inclined to be-
neve were included in the moderate
selling which took place on Wednes-
day and Thursday.
AS to the activity of the market
In recent weeks, the records Of the
stock exchange show that curing
month of June transactions sggre-
gated 24,036.313 shares, a decrease
OF 4,874.9S8 shares as compared with
the previous month, but an increase
OF 5,S62,535 shares as compared with
the corresponding month last year.
There were ten million share Jays,
of which the largest total was a.
6s9, 900, on the 18th. The smallest
five hours trading was 512,910 on
the 30th, which was also the lightest
dealings since February /, when the
total was 413.400 shares. FOR the
Saturday two-hour half holiday ses-
sion the maximum was S23,9i5 on
the third and the minimum total 541.-
900 on the Gath.
The most important Industrial
event Of the past week was the actual
calling Of the, strike in some Sec
tions of the American railroad sys-
tenn. The labor board grappled with
this problem until the very last min
ute, and then declared its inability
to effect a settlement. The cailroad
managers are confident that the
service Of the carriers will not be in
terrupted, and are carrying forward
their plans in a very energetic man.
ner.
Foreign Exchange.
-, Other factors with a bearing
upon. the financial situation during
, the last week were: The advances
In the quoted rates for sterling and
French exchange; the decline Of the
German mark TO a new low figure
at .0024& due to reparations immi-
nent and further initiation Of the
paper currency; steadinsss in the
cotton and wheat markets. with an
advance in the price Of July cotton
to $3.50 and Of July wheat to