The Washington herald., 1922-06-24
SLUGGISH TRADE
PREVAHSNDULL
STOCK EXCHANGE
Order for Investigation
Into Mex Pete Trade
Depresses Market.

NEW YORK. June 1s.-TradIny In
stosks was unusually sluegish to-
day, sales falling short Of the 700. 900
share mark. and price changes were
for the most part insignificant Fol-
lowing the ordering by the business
conduct Of the Stock EXCHANGE Of
an Investigation Of the recent
trading in Mexican Petroleum. se-
tivity In that issue fell OF and the
rise came TO an end A number OF
the rail shares gained q point or %
but industrials were quite irregu-
lar. Bonds. however. continued
strong. three Liberties making new
highs The rate on call money.
which opened at per cent was
raised progressively during the
afternoon 70 per cent which is
the highest since June q
Msrket Situation
"Anybody's guess" is the way one
brokerage house described the
probabilities for today's market and
IL Is about the most accurate de-
scription that has yet been given
Of the concensus Of opinion In the
Street whatever usefulness the
5o-point advance in Mexican Pc
troleum within ten days may have
had In advertising the opportunities
for speculation there can be little
question that the character Of the
move has unsettled confidence and
!nterfered with the normal opera
tion of the market. II 10 not gen.
orally believed that the investiga-
tion now being made by the Stock
Exchange Of the trading in Mex
Pete will elucidate anything except
the generally known fact that ths
considerable number OF persons be-
came short-sighted and short Of the
stock al about the same time and
have been paying the penalty. II
was noticeable that best advance
made in the general market since
the fireworks In Mex Pete began
was seen this morning when that
stock became less prominent than IL
has since the big move began
Decline I'm Rate.
That the decline { nreserve ratio
Of the combined Federal Reserve
system. which occurred a week az
was due to the heavy government
transactions centering around the
tax date is made doubly sure bv
this weeks reserve bank statement.
Government deposits. a large in
crease in which was responsible for
the previous weeks decline. are
now ss3.OO0.oOo lower. this decrease
being accompanied by one OF S74.-
100000 in holdings of government
securities. With reserves showing
a moderate gan and with a small
increase in note circulation. the
ito OF the system stands at a new
high Of 7s.1 per cent The CORES
ponding gam Of IL per cent is quite
consistent with changes after other
tax dates. Taken altogether. the
latest statement confirms previous
ideas regarding the continuance Of
an easy money market
Mexican PetroIeun-
Resumption Of actovity in Mex
Pete was made on a break Of sew
eral points in that issue about noon
and the general list became sft
about the same time. many of the
advances Of a point or more scored
during the morning being can
celled One OF the largest comrrrs-
sion houses In the Street has been
advising the sale OF stock daily for
week and its customers have fol-
lowed the advice given them. 50
that selling by this house alone has
been large enough 70 be a market
factor for some days The same
thing Is occurring elsewhere. But
whether customers who have
known substantial profits can be
persuaded TO stay out Of the marker
for any considerable period remains
to be seen.