Evening star., 1923-06-09
SHORT SELLERS CAUGHT.
Rush to Cover Commitments as
Rail Issues Go Up.
By STUART T.. WEST.
Special Dispatch to The star.

SpeCIdl plhpdtcH 10 ne StdT.
NEW YORK, June s.-,Railwaa!
shares practically monopoliZed tn
stock market in today'S short session
The rapidity with which thes
stocks moved ahead showed some
thing more than helated apprecia
ton of the present favorable position
and still more favorable outlook witt
regard to earnings 1t also demon
strated that many participants in tn
bear campaign of month ago ha'
not got away with the paper pronti
I'm the railway list.
Today these short sellers begal
to scramble. 1t was principally thl:
hurried short covering which wa
responsible for the particularly sharl
upturn in stocks like Missouri Pacific
preferred and st. Paul preferred.
Central of New York Up.
New York Central made new high
for the year. getting up to 10S. Some
still maintain that the dividend tt
he acted upon next Wednesday will
he increased I per cent, but the more
conservative opinion is that the ne"
rate will be 8. Undoubtedly if ther'
were no increase at this time II
would be a severe shock TO the en-
tire railway share market. Southern
Railway was another that bettereC
its previous high for 1923 when il
went through 80 L on heavy trading.
The induStrialS had u further Sigh
reaction in the first half hour oil
so but they were finally Influenced
by the great buoyancy in the rail
way section and in the last houl
drew generally above the Frida!
closing.
The stock market closed strong al
the best prices of the day. There
was no sign of slackening in the
remarkable buying movement in the
railway list.
L. :. Steel Report Out.
The steel corporations monthly
tonnage figures came out too neal
the clos to have much influence upor
the market. The decrease of 307,15S
tons in orders on hand was certainly
very moderate in view of all the tall
last month about reaction" in the
steel trade. AS compared with th'
peak of March 81 untitled tonnage i:
only off a little over 100000 tons il
the total of nearly 1000, 900 tons.
is hard to reconcile this with the i'm
preston given by the weekly stee
trade reviews that new business j:
coming in slowly. while the mill,
were working to capacity on ole
orders.
Wheat Report Vital Factor.
How the markets would receive thu
government wheat estimate published
after the close of business Friday
was the principal point of interes
IN the situation today.
Wheat options right at the star
were up cent ii bushel, thus show
ing that the decrease of 39,000.00Q
bushels in the indicated crop as com
pared with the 1922 final, was rather
moro of falling off than expected
In former times when there was al
ample outlet for the American whea
surplus abroad. d report like thi:
would have been regarded as any.
thing but favorable on the stock ex
change. Railway stocks would have
been sold on the contention that {
smaller crop would mean less wheat
to haul and less traffic in genera
merchandise into the agriculture
states.
But under present conditions. Will
Europe increasing its home produc-
tion of foodstuffs and having no sucf
buying power as it used to have, II
IL Il fortunate thing that the wheat
harvest promises no larger total thar
&I7.O00 600 bushels; otherwise the out
look would be poor for profitable
prices.
The stock market took this view
quite evidently in today's two-houl
trading.
In addition to the Austrian loar
next week is expected to see new
government financing in the shape OF
Treasury certificates. The offering is
not expected to be a large one, but
the coupon rate may have some sig
nificance as to the future of the
money market.