The New York herald., 1922-05-23
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Rise of Call Rate to 5 Per Cent.
Checks Gain of Stocks, but
New Highs Are Made.

| An advance OF the CALI money rate
from Slz TO per cent. checked the ad-
vance OF stocks yesterday after numer-
GUS new high record prices for this
year had been reached. Business went
along at a very fast pace until the
money clement interfered, and, while
| quotations were set back in the final
honr, many left off with sizeable net
gains and the undertone was firm. This
was especially true of Standard oil
shares, United States Steel and such
we'll placed rails as Delaware and Hud-
son, Lackawanna. New York Central
and Union Pacific. The bond market
evidently was not affected adversely
| by the money situation. as decided
strength was displayed throughout the
day by many railroad issues. and, while
bonds, which command junior lien
on their properties or no lien at all, were
In the foreground of the rise. first mort
cages also did well. The brisk buying
| of transportation securities during the
morning plainly reflected the public re-
sponse to indications derived from the
! Saturday discussion in the White House
! that the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion would give due consideration 10
railroad costs before ordering any gen.
eral reduction of freight rates.
The stiffening of call money was not
unexpected The New York Clearing
House bank statement at the. end OF last
week disclosed a rise of $97,SOo,00O In
loans, which, while connected with the
Il =. ..l-<4v- Aarx xxyyif-
ing new bonds. had direct bearing on
the stock markets requirements. Demand
loans had not commanded per cent
before since May 2. following an out
ward flow of funds from New York
banks through interest and dividend
payments AS time loan rates remained
at the recently established minimum
levels. II was believed that the situation
would change soon. A call loan rate of
more than Ar per cent. has been potent
this year to attract money from other
localities.
Corporation merger discussion occu-
pied a much less important place IN mar
ket news and rumor than II did last
week. a development not surprising in
view of what happened to the original
six company steel program. But, II
ANYTHING, the elimination of rather ex-
travagant speculative expectations along
that line allowed more freedom TO study
of development in industry. A further
slight stiffening of the price of copper
TO 13a4 cents a pound and additional re-
ports of active steel buying for early
deliveries helped carry along particular
stocks for a time. Steel common
reached new high level at 1929 under
impetus supplied by recent trade infor-
nation The railroad department, how
ha Interesting
in the way buying reached into some low
priced issues the remote chances of
which for dividends had tended before
to keep them low in speculative estima-
ton.
The action of French and German ex-
changes suggested that the reparations
situation was affecting those markets
without working In the others. Exteh-
sive selling OF francs at one time
sent their rate to less than cents, the
lowest quoted since March 20 and AZ
points less than their highest rate of
this spring. The mark rate sagged to
SO cent. figure not far from the min
imum of 1922. The French Govern
ment's spokesmen have been decidedly
pointed in their remarks about collecting
from Germany. and that factor. together
with doubt about the flotation of a
German loan, has reacted against the
exchanges. Sterling was steady. The
Far Eastern rates followed upward an
other half cent rise in silver.
Several cotton options went up a half
cent pound, and although all of that
advantage was not held to the end Of
the day the market was strong, support
ed by news of heavy rainfall in the
crop belt. May wheat first receded
cents a bushel and then regained ~
cents of the loss in feverish market.