Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-07-01
RAILS UNAFFECTED
BY STRIKE NEWS
All Signs Point to Market Work.
Ing Into a Dull and Narrow
Traders Affair

New York. July Trading was al.
together featurcless In today's closing
stock market. but strong tone was
maintained throughout tho short ses-
sion. Whether this was due to week
end covering of the short interest or
organized support on the part of the
powers.to- be is an open question. The
outstanding feature was the stcadiness
Of the rails: the group. as a whole.
were scarcely affected by the strike of
The railway shopmen. A few industrial
specisltics under pool control made sub
stantial advances. but the movement OF
the main body Of stocks was absolutely
colorless. There were two influences 10
cause a curtailment of speculative opcr-
atlons down to minimum. tne was
the holiday ahead and tie other the
possibilities OF far-reaching develop
ments occurring in both the railroad
and coal strike situation bcfor" Wall
street really gets down to business
again on Wednesday morning.
a new high record for Liberty fourth
4As was made today at l0o.H2. Other
wise tho bond market was dull narrow
and fcaturclcss Mexican Governments
q and rs rose large fractions, but other
St Paul 4s Of 1925 rose one point
ana fractional gains were made by the
refunding 4I.S. also Illinois Central
refGnGing 4s.. BROOKLYN Rapid Transit Is
and United States Steel IS. Atchison
adjustment Is were off one point and
fractional losses were de by Kansas
City Southern js, Interborough Rapid
Transit Us ard Third Avenue ADJUST
ment IS.
I'll, ,,.,oL'g lo,aIa,,,,o,,. go ,l.,:....
and events gave the market community
plenty Of food for thought. but in it
there was little that could he accepted
as inducire Of widening speculative
operations or taking on of new commit.
ments. To the contrary, everything
served to promote caution and a gem
eral disposition TO cut down existing
ventures as much as possible. II begins
70 look as though the market is. there
fore. going TO get it's long g-nepdcd spell
OF rest, which seemingly would fore.
shadow a quiet summer. II there Is
anything professional Wall Street alb
hors, It is prolonged period OF dull.
ness. Naturally. they are combating
che almost Irresistible tendency to-
ward contraction, and their founderng
operations largely account for the re-
cent uneven movement.
big operators have had their play and
are seeking more comfortable haunts.
The public who are not hopefcSSly tied
up. were sufficiently hurt by the recent
violent gyrations to make them skttish
for some little time 70 come. While
not dangerously impaired. there have
been present, recently, enough positive
evidence to indicate the remarkable
buying wave which carried stocks up
fhc last nine months. almost without
interruption. has spent its force. Thi,
applies. apparently. 10 both stocks and
bonds. The shorts. suffering a terrible
lacing in the Mexican Petroleum sem
sational roundup, were driven to GOV.
er, SO. evidently. the general market
Is deprived of that artificial support.
Under such circumstances there would
seem little hope ahead OF anything but
dull trading and sagging prices.
Superfcially. the market world ap-
peared to be strangely indifferent to all
recent developments, many Of which
could not be regarded otherwise than of
unfavorable construction. This atti-
tude has been maintained throughout
the prolonged coal strike About the
same humor exists as to the threatened
railroad walkout. Yet. to come right
down TO hard pan facts, there has been
an equally striking unresponsivencss to
favorable developments. In other
words. since the high level vas struck
In April the market in reality carried
little significance, other than rehcrting
skillful manipulation of pools and other
speculative combinations.
Possibly the prevalent sentiment is
more aptly described in the remarks Of
a very able operator a few days ago in
New York. In giving his opinion as to
the immediate trend, he said. for the
moment the oils look as II they had
been badly overbought the rails give
all symptoms Of being waterlogged the
steels are running short Of fuel; the
motors apparently are having car
buretor trouble; equipments are await.
ing for the railroads 20 get their spend.
ing money and the coppcrs, we'll they
seem to be suffering from a case of reaI
blue funk.