Evening star., 1923-01-06
WALL Street LIST
TURNS DOWNWARD
Heavy Weekend Selling One
Factor in Appearance OF
Sudden Weakness.
BY STUART r. WEST.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, January 6.-A stimuli
taueous decline in stocks in the eX-
changes, i'll foreign government
bonds, and in cotton, was the re-
sponse Of the markets today, to the
uncertainty caused by the dissolu-
ton of the conference on German
reparations.
Tho most pronounced weakness oc-
Cured in French and Belgian govern
ments which were registering the
Judgment of the financial community
that the chances for coliectlon OF
tainly not been improved, and, II any
thing, have been diminished by the
attitude which these countries nave
The fall in French francs was com,
uaratively moderate, and sterling ana
lire were off only slightly. All Things
considered, the New York stock mar
ket did not decline to such an extent
as would have suggested serious
alarm. The sensational statements at
tributed to the visiting British chan
cellor of the exchequer were OF
course. not taken seriously. HAD
Wall street believed that GerHahy
was on the verge of reVoiutlon, tMnal M
the French franc was going the way
of the German mark, and that thlS
might lead in the end to an upheaval
in France itself. the markets ~ouiu
not have acted the way they did TINS
morning.
Much Week End Selling.
The greater part of the selling in
tho share list came from the specu- :
lative following, which wanted 10 pe
as clear as possible of commitments
over the week END. IL nrougnt aooue a.,
losses of a point or two points In
the speculative leaders, but the mar
ket disclosed an ample buying power
on the way down.
The low prices were reached in the
last half hour. with stocks like Bald
American Can off the most. A slight
rally occurred just at the close, but
the final tone was for the most part
heavy.
Producers and Refiners.
The delayed announcement of the
Producers and RefinerS' plans and the
placing of the stock on 81 dividend
into the stock today. This is the
usual procedure of Wall street to
sell on the good news directors
of Producers and RefinerS approved
OF 81 per cent of the stock of the
Fensland Oil Company and the mi
nority stock of Lyons Petroleum Com
pany. The Fensland exchange Will
be on the 0dSlS OF oO-luU OF one SndT Q
of Producers for one share of Fens-
land while the exchange, for Lyons
stock will be on the basis Of fifty
shares of Lyons for one share of Pro-
ducers.
Rock Islamd's Position.
Selling little above it's low for 1922.
Rock Island common stock has held
its ground fairly we'll since the turn
of the new year. After the recent dis
solution of the pool which had been
active in the stock for some time
Rock Island common declined quite
sharply, but the technical position of
the shares has evidently been
strengthened. December earnings
were considerably better than for the
preceding months, and showed how
steadily Rock Island. like many of the
other railroad companies, has been
BILE to reduce its charges on account
of maintenance.
Practically nothing above the pre-
ferred dividend will be reported for
1929, according to conservative esti-
mates, but earnings on the common of
ut least $6 a share are expected for
the current twelve months.