The New York herald., 1922-10-18
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Libertys Again Display Weak,
ness, While Stocks Move in
Seesaw Fashion.

Mixed movements I'm stocks further
weakness in Liberty bonds. a spirited
buying movement in cotton which car
ried the December option above % cents
to new high for the year. and con-
tinuation of the recovery in sterling ex-
change featured the financial markets
yesterday.
Perhaps the most significant OF all
these movements was the continued
weakness of the bond market. led by
the Libertys. 1t was plain to be seen
that the liquidation of big holdings by
important banks and corporations for
the purpose OF supplying funds to meet
increasing demands of business and in
dustry has not been completed. although
the volume of this character of selling
is gradually becoming smaller.
Even the tax exempt az which were
strong on the preceding day in the face
OF a steadily declining market for the
other issues, were under steady pres
sure yesterday. AS result Of the con-
| tinued decline OF the war loans all of
them, with the exception of the Victory
notes and the first 3As, were close to
the 80 quotation, and in the case of the
registered third ANS that mark was
broken. The new thirty year AVS Of
fered by the Treasury Department last
week were admitted to trading on the
New York Stock Exchange for the first
time yesterday and they were in con-
tinuous demand at moderate premium.
About all the interest in the stock
MAJ -rnf yxra. ia1 11xyt ~ ,t,a
istic fireworks in Mexican Petroleum and
some of the other Mexican oil stocks, to-
gether with a small number of the
favorite pool issues. such as Baldwin,
Studebaker and Postum Cereal. These
were marked up steadily and closed the
day with moderate gains The move
ments In Mexican oils demonstrated
what can be done at times to an over
crowded short interest. After opening
four points above Mondays close Mexi-
can Petroleum was advanced more than
is points further to a high Of 22S. 1t
was one of the worst defeats ever ad-
I, ministered In single day to the bear
traders in that stock.
In support of the advance stories were
current of stock dividends, increased
cash dividends, new and more attractive
offers for the exchange of Mexican
Petroleum shares for those of the paren:
corporation, the Pan-American Petroleum,
and Transportation Corporation, &c
Those stories may or may not be true.
Moves such as that of Mexican Petro-
leum- obviously conducted along the
lines of q we'll mapped out campaign, do
not need constructive news developments
as their basis. Strong arm methods are
good enough under certain circum-
stances.
IN ~, -ta ali
there was seen a normal movement In
upward reaction against the steady
downward trend which attended the
establishment here of large British
credits in connection with the $50 900, 900
interest payment made Monday. Sterling
exchange at the close yesterday was still
a little more than five cents below the
high OF the year; nevertheless, 1t is
materially above the lowest level on the
last reaction which, It Is now revealed.
was largely the result of the Government
operations. Just how far in advance of
the actual payment by England of her
interest obligation here the selling OF
sterling ended can be pretty accurately
gauged by the action of the foreign
exchange market The low mark of that
decline. which was 4.36A, was estab-
lished on September 20, and from that
time to the present, with only temporary
Interruptions, the trend has been up
ward.
The money market continued to reflect
a lack of supply OF funds for speculative
purposes. After running through a good
part of the session at 5 per cent. call
rates on the New York Stock Exchange
jumped TO 6 per cent. just before the
close. For several days the call money
market has been insufflciently supplied
10 go uniformly through the entire
session. and in the late trading sharp
bidding for accommodations has been
made necessary.