Evening star., 1923-05-04
Wild SELLING MOVE
FORCED BY BEARS
New Low Prices for Year
Reached in Many Stocks.
Good Buying at Close.
BY STUART p. WEST.

BY STUART p. WEST.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, May 4.-Even before
the opening of the stock market TO-
day the view persisted in commission
house circles that the break on
Thursday afternoon did not mean that
the market was not attracting ne"
buying from substantial sources. III
was admitted. however, that in many
Individual stocks the readjustment
might not have been completed. and
there was no surprise accordingly
when these weak spots began TO crop
out again under severe bear pressure.
Particular attention was paid, es-
pecially in the early part of today,
ro HIGHER priced industrial stocks
with a narrow market. which can
easily be moved either up or down.
4 mass Of stop orders were caught
at the outset in Stewart warner.
sweeping that stock down IA points
before there was any sign OF cheek
Other stocks whose market position
ia more or less the Same-Str omberg,
Eastman Kodak and American Ice
were also offered down with little
resistance.
Shipping Stocks Weak.
Shipping stocks were very weak,
with Marine preferred at a new low.
'fhe selling extended to the railway
list, and a number of the leaders in
this group. among them Union Pacific.
I.ehigh Valley and Delaware. Lacka-
wanna and Western. went below their
previous lows for 1928. Most of the
other rails were also at or below their
low poins for the year, thus complete
~ ignoring the record-breaking traf-
fc movement which has developed
since January I.
The. one noteworthy exception was
Pittsburgh and West Virginia. al
though this is more u coal company
than it Is a railroad.
Pittsburgh and West Virginia acted
precisely the same as Ntckle Plate.
Lake Erie and Western preferred
and Toledo, ST. Louis and Western
used to act prior to their properties
being taken over by new interests.
The street had the report that a syn
dicate had no option on a controlling
block of the stock at considerably
higher prices, but there was no con-
flrmation of this in authoritative
quarters.
New Low Prices.
New low prices for the year were
reached on the stock exchange today.
In other words, the average level was
we'll under its lowest of January be-
fore the extraordinary recovery of the
is to be said for the let-up in the
buying movement in various indus
trial lines and the easing OF prices.
this decline has been altogether eX-
cessive. 1t cannot be justified by any
sane reasoning either with regard to
present business conditions or with
regard to the future.
1t simply illustrates that in the type
of market which Wall street has had
for the last year or more, where the
investing public has been a small fac
tor and where big spectators are in
control, the swings are equally eX-
treme in both directions.
The market went to undue lengths
in the break last November. as was
quickly demonstrated by the prompt
ness of the December recovery. 1t
went just as far the other way in Feb
ruary and March, when exaggerated
ideas regarding the trade boom" were
the fashion. It has gone quite as much
to an extreme in the reaction Of the
last six weeks.
Traders Forced to Sell.
What happened during the first
half of the trading today was moth
ing more than forced liquidation
which always comes toward the cul-
mination of prolonged and severe
decline. Those who were pitching
over stocks for anything they would
bring were doing SO regardless of
any question of value. but simply be-
cause their individual credit position
had become so undermined that they
were compelled to sell.
The most violent decline naturally
occurred in some of the Industrial
specialties which had been put up the
most recklessly in the winter cam
paign. But it was also astonishing to
see railway stocks sell at new lows
for the year in face of the latest fig
ureS on car loading, showing that the
present volume of traffic is heavier
than at any time so far.
kennecOtt Copper Feature.
Kennecott Copper was q feature in
the early part of the day, and in its
advance to SO in face of declining
prices in other parts of the list It
was accompanied by rising prices in
Utah Copper. which Kennecott con-
trolls, and by strength in Chile.
The action of Kennecott fitted in
with much that has been heard re-
Gently in reliable quarters regarding
this company. AS a matter Of fact,
copper people cannot see any insur-
mountable difficulties in the way of
kennecott If it chooses to enlarge
The low prices were reached in the
who are in the habit of waiting for
Just such period of Generalization
TO enter the market then began to
sh1W and prices turned upward.
For an hour or so previous to 9
o'clock the rally kept on CARRYING
prices up point to points and in
specialties like Stewart Warner con-
siderably more from their lows
Operators on the short side were
not. however, prepared to give up
their advantage. They got busy again
in. the final hour against stocks like
Baldwin Locomotive, which had
proved most susceptible on other
days. Special strength appeared in
American Can all through the early
weak spell and in the subsequent re-
covery. The street was inclined to
associate the buying of this stock