The Washington herald., 1922-02-11
ERRATIC DISPLAY
OF PRICE CHANGE
IN STOCK MARKET
Profit Taking Interrupts
Rails in Their Slow
Movement Forward.
OILS RECORD GAINS
Few Scattered Industrials
Join Advancing Group, But /.
General List Fluctuates.

NEW YORK. Feb. Io.-The irreg-
ular display Of changes in the stocI;
market today bespoke a hesitancy
that is by no means a rare occur
renee with two trading holidays "a
near at hand. Railroad shares con.
tinued their slow forward move.
ment. although on this occasion
there were Interruptions at time.
when trading profts were beins
realized. The oil stocks and q scat.
tered few industriais moved un :
point or two, but the Industrial
market as a whole nuctIated In un.
certain fashion. Call money re.
newed again at S per cent and IN.
rate on new loans was reduced tl
az early in the last hour
U. 8. steel Common.
Twice within less than twenty
four hours ending around mid -da
today the stock market gave al
Illustration of what the small noatl
ing supply Of United States Stet|
common means. The first ocasio
was in the last half hour yesterds
when the shorts were being worrieI
into a scramble for the stock. ,nl
the second was just after the pub|
lication Of the monthly untitled toni
mage statement at noon today.
few days ago the Street heard (froI
others in the street, that the state|
ment would show an increase RAND
ing from $4,000 10 loo. 900 tons. Yes|
terday afternoon. Just before th|
big rise in Steel common started
these estimates were revised urI
ward. The opinion that there wouII
be an increase ranging up cloS|
to 100000 tons seemed TO NJ IN wei
with the rise in the stock. TIL
Streets surprise and disappofnd
ment when the statement issued n
noon today showed an actual dd
crease Of 25.736 tons. may be ind
agined. Steel common sold at SD
just prior TO the announcement.
broke to Ssh on the sale of onII
800 shares. A total Of 900 shard
was taken at that low figure. aul
then the price broke TO s74. al
this happened within the short spad
Of ten minutes and the loss OF
full point, therefore. was ascribs
directly TO the tonnage statementI
A pronounced increase in the d
mand for New York City bonds ha
developed as a result Of the Treas
ury Departments action in callIn
for redemption Of the Victory 3
per cent notes. Up 20 the pressed
there has been no increase in III
asked price in the 1871 loan whi
was recently brought out. the re
son being that the syndicate is u
derstood still to have some Of (
bonds on hand. But the hoatiu
supply has been materially reducs
within the past two days.
Rails Are strong.
There was a real reason for
strength of railroad stocks tod
and the movement therefore was
moved a bit from the suspicion IN
this department was being bolster
TO cover up distribution in the
dustrials. Washington dispatch
this morning stated that Secreta
Hoover has attracted some folloi
ing to his proposal that the 60
ernment place some kind OF Cus
antee behind equipment trust ID
tificates issued by the railroads
prepare for handling the increase
traffic that is expected when bu
ness revives further. The adopt
of such a measure would tighten
burden of interest carried by q
railroads and would give to eaui
ment trust certificates some Of
character OF government securiti
but not their tax exemption. u
strong features among the rails
day were Union Pacific. AtchiS
Delaware. Lackawanna and We
ern. Southern Pacific, st. Louis
Southwestern and Reading.