Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-05-19
RATE33-4PERCT.0N
S|XTY-DAY MONEY
Stock Speculation Broadens'
SteeIs, Motors and Metals
Leading.
BY STUART p. WEST.

NEW YORK, May 19.-Everything
else in the financial situation today
was overshadowed in Importance by
the developments in the money mar
ket.
On Thursday the official quotations
on one and two months loans had
been lowered to per cent from the
a per cent level, where they had
stood for nearly two months. This
per cent rate has even been shaded
In "a few transactions.
But today the regular market Tor
this class of loans was fixed at 81
per cent. the lowest that wall street
has seen since August. 1917. the month
preceding the first liberty loan ana
typifying the condition existing be-
fore Americas finances had begun to
feel the strain of war,
Bank Reserves Increase.
This further concession to Wall
street borrowers followed promptly
upon the disclosure in the weekly
statement of the Federal Reserve
Bank that increasing trade demand
has as yet failed to show in the re.
discount and circulation items and
that the reserve ratio is still rising.
The detailed figures set forth the
Atlanta and Dallas districts and
plainly reflect the liquidation OF
scent rise in cotton prices.
In such typical industrial districts
Es Cleveland, Philadelphia and st.
Louis the reserve ratios are lower
Than they were week ago.
Signal to Go Ahead.
The security markets accepted the
SA per cent time money rate as an
Indication to go ahead at a still more
lively pace.
The investment portion of the bond
market did not feel the stimulus that
the speculative bond and stock lists
did.
creasingly active, with higher prices
Tor Libertys and small but noticeable
gains in company issues.
The speculative movement on the
iStock exchange broadened out con-
Cold water was thrown upon the
; trading in the independent, steel
the president of the Bethlehem Steel
that his company was negotiating for
q merger with Midvale or with any
other member of the so-called six
company group.
Coppers Go Higher.
But further advance in the price
Of the copper metal, the third in a
week, appeared for the time being at
least to have been pretty well dis
But while realizing sales went on
IN these directions prices were bid up
IN great variety of other stocks.
Enormous transactions attended the
rise in United States Steel common
to a new high for the year and the
highest since April. 1920.
Trading in General Motor. which
took the lead in the automobile group.
Rubber and tire shares were taken
up and pool operations continued in
several of the American oils.
The railway list still showed a de-
sire to await the April earnings state
ment.
Stocks of anthracite coal carriers
were particularly strong.
Sinelair's New High.
Next to Producers and Reiners the
principal feature in the oil group was
Sinclair. which made a new high for
the year as it struck 35. This ad-
vance was accomplished on very
heavy trading, which was interpreted
as a resumption of pool operations
that were temporarily discontinued
when the row started over the lease
fof the Teapot Dome property. The
new San Miguel well in Mexico IL
said to, be one of the most promising
developments that have occurred in
Sinclair oil affairs.
Steel Over Par.
Steel common. long laggard, final-
~ came into its own today. Several
blocks of unusual magnitude ushered
in the advance. On the previous oc-
casion a month age when the stock
crossed par it did not get above
1905. This time it passed the high
limit with ease.
Professional traders. who go largely
by charts, regarded 101 as the criti-
cal figure.
If steel was strong enough to push
through this figure it was in for an
old-fashioned rise, SO these experts
said. But the real reason for the cam
paign in the stock was a market one.
The C0alers.
Delaware. Lackawanna and West
gern's Jump Thursday and again today
shelped all the coal stocks, although
there was a special reason for its ad-
vance. Directors meet on June 90
}and there is a strong hint Of another
melon cutting. Just whether the ex-
ttra distribution, now rumored, will
ftake the form Of cash or whether II
will be another stock dividend, II
doubtful. The idea is, however, that q