Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-11-30
WALL Street BUSY
HOUSE CLEANING
Recent Sharp Decline Almost
Entirely Due to Technical
Influences

l. was somewhat of toss. .up as tt
who got the THANKSGIVING turkey he.
tween the bulls and bears of Wall Stree
yesterday. Both claim the honor. I
looked as if the bear contingent had ,
little the better of the pickincs. The hUl
forces. however, claim their opponent.
have shot their mark, il thcy have not
overshot 1t. and they have suprem,
confidence of taking the prize whc,
Chris mas rolls around.
| Today being observed as a legal hol.
iday. all the principal stock exchange.
and commodity markets throughout tn,
| country are closed. Business will bt
resumed tomorrow as usual. and the
! financial and market community vii
! have an opportunity of studying til,
situa ion without the interruption OF
! the usual crop of rumors. reports and
other worries which crop out during
| the course of the ordinary days busi-
ness.
Much has been written concerning
| the radical reversal in the trend of the
security markets within the last three
weeks. When the smoke clears away 1t
! will unuucstionably be found the de-
cline. which to large extent was a
= technical one. was aggravated hy IN,
/ weakness of several houses. and also
the forced selling of very large blocks
of stocks by n number Of other houses
| that the stock exchange au:hOritics
found were carrying more stock than
their caDital resources warranted.
In other words, the drastic marking
| down Of market values in Wall Street
! had no more to do with news develop.
mcnts and conditions outside of the
exchange han did the final stages Of
! the constructive movement which ran
on the rocks about the middle of Oc-
| tober.
While there are some indications "t
the reactionary forces having reached
an over. extended position, much the
same as their hullish brethren did ir
the secondary forward movement start =
| ing in August. there l. yet to be given
| any substantial proof of III" adjustment
process being fully completed.
Under th. circumstances, il Is ren
sonablc 70 expect the professional trad.
! ing contingent to continue to fight any
protractcd recovery and renew pressure
against all weak issues. Illustration oi
! which attitude was clearly given in the
case Of the Erie group and other low
| priced rails in Wednesdays market.
Until the impaired buying power ot
! the market has been substantially cor
! rected. there would seem to be litta
; hope of any prolonged recovery. In
the first place. the principal prc1ellinG
/ force Of recent rallies was derived prin
| cipally from the retreat OF shorts in
, : '~rf,~siuUal ranks. "r,th"r than my
outburst ot new buying demand. On
! the contrary. sharp rccovcries are moro
/ likely 10 bring fresh s"l!in. orders. In
all events. those interests that took
! over weak accounts. during the more
critical periods OF the recent shake
| our. were selling as much o. JA"s" stock.
rs the market world tNhn. th"ir Pc.
s!tion being anything other than q
philanthrop!c attitude. These stocks
! have not been. nor will they be. pressed
| for sale.
! In other words. until thcs" weak ac.
counts are fully absorbed and d!gc.trd
there can be no permanent change for
/ the better. At different Intervals last
week bear pressure appeared 70 have
| been removed. but continued Scat,criHs
/ liquidation demonstrated conclusively
the unhealthy speculation position Wa,
not yet satisfactorily corrected.