Evening star., 1922-06-20

in the quarter where they should
have counted most-namely, in the
railway securities themselves.
IT vas the industrial section wh,en zen
monopolized attention ana mere the
reason was entirely clear.
During the first week in June the
market had had the read1ustment de
manded after the overspeculation OF
the two previous nsI months, s., Monday
week and the secondary decline of
last Friday marked the eliminating
phases of this reaction: What has
occurred since is partly in the nature
of a fresh advance among carefully
selected stocks and partly the char
acteristic sharp rebound against an
overextended short interest.
Mexican Pete the Leader.
Mexican Petroleum, as was the case
on the previous days. gave the cue
to the entire movement. The sensa-
tional uprush continued and had a
demoralizing effect upon short sell
lers in other Of the speculative
leaders.
Studebaker made a new high. the
steel merger Stocks-notably Lacka-
wanna and Republic Iron and Steel
ran up sharply and there was swift
urbidding of Crucible Steel. Baldwin
Locomotive and Gulf States Steel.
In all of the instances the rise was
largely a demonstration against a
short account inundated by the dis
astrous result Of the bear" specu-
lation in Mexican Petroleum.
Copper shares attracted more at
no short interest to work upon and
the rise was comparatively small.
Dividends.
Barnet Leather declared the regu-
lar quarterly dividend of 1 q per cent
on the preferred stock. payable July
l to stock of record June 80.
A regular quarterly dividend of SO
cents. payable in American funds. on
July 8 to stock Of record June 2S. has
been declared by the British-Ameri
can Oil Company.
Big stocks Favored.
Again today preference was shown
for what Wall street terms the big
stocks" BY this Is not meant neces-
sarily high-priced issues. Rather the
meaning is highly speculative stocks,
involving more than the usual risk.
and consequently not held to any
large extent by the public. Mexican
Pete is one of these. Studebaker is
another. and Gulf States Steel, which
was one of today's leaders, is another.
The main incentive from the market
point of view back of operations Tor
the rise in shares of this character is
that they bull easily.
Inere Is no OUTSIDE 1OllO"l luS "
block the way with heavy offerings
as prices go up. Moreover. in all
these instances there has been short
interest to help out. The premium on
Mexican Pete was slightly less than
il was on Monday.
COppers Do Better.
There were no developments in the
copper trade situation to account for
the advance in the copper shares.
This was simply a part of the general
market improvement. Anaconda has
always shown resistance, approach
ing the 80 level. for this Is the figure
at which the new stock was issued to
paw for the American Brass Company.
In Kennecott the 81 dividend story
was revived. The best information
has all along been that such a decla-
ration would be made some time this
wear, but whether at the next meelng,
i'll September. or not until the last
meeting, in December. is left in doubt.
Gulf States Steel.
Gulf States Steel had fair advance
to around so within an hour after the
opening of business. The sharp up
swing conceded with the arrival in
New York of southern interests who
are outspokenly bullish on the Gun
States prospects. According TO the
latest published reports of the COM
pany current operations are good;
Gulf States is a low cost producer ana
is in a position to show good profits
even while the other small Independents
are operating at loss.