The Washington herald., 1922-07-04
FINAN cIAL
PROFESSIONALS
RULERESTRICTED
STOCK EXCHANGE
Limited Trading Scope
Is Almost Entirely
Meaningless.

NEW YORK. July s.-Tradins on
the stock exchange today was 20
limited in scope as to be entirely
mtaningiess. Except for profe,-
sionai operations. and notably In
General Motors. it could scarcely n.
said that market existed at AN.
The absence of a large number Of
traders. who had determined 10 pro-
long their weekend holiday until
after Fourth. thinned the rank, Of
both buyers and sellers until busi-
ness became purely perfunctory.
The rate on call loans ruled at q
per cent all day. The bond market
was dull but nrm.
Early Trade sn.u.
This mornings stock n.rk.,
could scarcely be said 70 exi,t
Transactions during the nrst hour
totaled less than 10000 share, ana
the only issues which showed any,
thing approaching activity were IN.
stocks which are VIGOROUSLY under
the influence Of pool manipulation.
In these the operations OF IN. pro-
fessionals interested msint.ine. .
semblance Of activity. but the rsnk
and nle of stocks which are ran
orally regarded as showing msrk.,
trends were exceedingly inactive
many OF them not making their an
pearance on the tape until nearly
noon The first transaction in Steel
common vas not recorded until
II:4o.
Steel Common Inactive
II the oldest trader IN the stree,
was not on his favorite golf links
this morning. Il is safe to guess
mat he would have been able TO
reeaL when the initial hour Of trad
ing had passed without a single
sale Of Steel common. NeedJe,. ~
say, under the circumstance. IL wa.
little use 20 try and estimate What
forecasts traders are making as 10
the next unhlled tonnage statement
which Is due TO appear on Mondsy
or what Will be even Of more inter
est when the time comes. the quar-
tefly earnings statement which
VIII be made public on the after
noon of July Is. A slight decreas.
In untitled tonnage will cause little
surprise. but the earning. state
nent should reflect the more favor
able conditions which began almost
coincidentslly with the opening Of
the second quarter OF the year.
HaIls
Neither was Il profitable 70 in
terpret the markets view OF the
rail- strike through the nuctustion.
In the quotations for the stocks
most directly affected by the issues
at stake. with the exception of
Baltimore and Ohio, which sold OF
a point, and Central. which rose a
similar amount on the few transac-
tions recorded during the morning
hours, the fluctuations were CON
hned TO changes of a quarter or an
eighth one way or the other. with
the volume OF trading 80 restricted
as TO leave them entirely mean
ingless
May Earnins..
The May earnings statements
which appeared this morning. con-
tinued TO be marked by the frre-u-
larity which the continued suspen-
sion of the coal strike has caused.
The lines not directly affected con-
tinued to make surprisingly good
showings. Among the latter was
eaboard Air Line, which reported
an increase in gross Of more than
s25o.oeo, an increase in net Of an
even larger amount and an increase
in net operating income OF better
than s45o.ooo. Among the smaller
systems which continued in MAY TO
make the good showing noted
earlier In the year was Gulf. Mo
bile and Northern. with an increase