Evening star., 1922-09-29
WALL STREETL|ST
|SUNDER PRESSURE.
Near-East News and Bear
Efforts Cause General
Weakness.
BY STUART p. WEST.

NEW YORK. September .2s.-There
Was no-queStion of whether or not the
near east situation was an influence
on the stock list at the opening. Every
Que admitted it. and in the same
breath declared that conditions at
home were ali right.
Sterling exchange dropped several
points, and the announcement OF the
failure of the. proposed Republic Mid
vaIe-Inland steel companies merger
added ito the weakness and uncer-
taipty.
Professional bears searched the list
for weak spots and found them in
Steels and other indnstrials, with
more show of resistance. on the part
of the rails and some of the oils than
elsewhere in the list.
Coppers Were Soft.
Comment among room traders and
brokers was to the effect that Should
there. be actual hostilities in the near
east there would be another big up
turn to our market. but today the
Coppers and other metals were among
the weaklingS.
Bethlehem b shares dropped point
in the first half hour. Crucible Steel.
which closed yesterday at S512. dropped
10 Siis and rallied to S41e. Republic
Steel. a merser-failurs stock lost nearly
> points while Midvale Steel dropped ?
points.
1 In the Rails.
Canadian Pacific was off 1Ss. New
York Central was ex,dividend and did
not regain any part of 1t. Northwestern
was e lower and Lehigh Valley Is with
like loss in many of the cheaper rails.
: Baltimore and Ohio lost point. as
d'd Atchisou.
The oils offered rather stubborn re-
! sistance. 10 the bears. with the exception
! IT Mexican Petroleum, which dropped
nearly points.
There, was considerable activity dur
ing, the first hour. when the pressure
subsidized somewhat, but rallies were
limited
Weak All Morning. ,r'.
The tendency to rally did not go
far. further declines encouraging
hsftr traders to press harder for the
advantage. while some of the bulls
of the die-hard variety finally sold
cut -
Around midday the market pre-
sented a newy weak appearance. pos
sibly with more short selling than
real liquidation. although there was
plently of both.
While a good deal of liquidation
was brought out either on stop orders
or as the result OF margin calls. there
was no doubt that the main impulse
to the decline came from bear opera
tjohs.
The technical side OF the decline
in the independent steel stocks. as
II appeared TO the street was that
banking intrests had long known the
bad news that was coming. had had
a chance to act upon it in the market.
and consequently were willing to see
the break go as far as possible in
order to facilitate accumulation.
Steel common was a much tougher
proposition for the bears, partly be-
cause of the presence OF the usual
supporting orders on a scale down,
and partly because of the contention
that the breaking off of the independ-
enf steel merger was bull argument
for the steel corporation.
The announcement. OF recelTershlp
for the Republic Motor Truck Com
pany occasioned little surprise in the
financial district, for the selling price
of the stock long ago siSnalized such
q proceeding The reorganization
plans are reported to be already un-
der way.
Butte and Superior.
with zinc selling at close to: &c a
and Superior Company will be able to
report substantial earnings for the
last. five months of this year. Be
ginning with August. Butte and Su-
perior has been showing surplus
after all charges including depre ola
ton. The report for the third quarter
therefore is expected to show a net
profit.
In the early hours of the afternoon
the market took on a much better ap-
peaTances
shorts here and there started COW
cring and there were found good re-
sultant rallies in equipments. motors
and industrial SpeeialtieS.