Evening star., 1923-08-07
MARKET HAS DROP, P,,
. BUT SOON RALLIES
Reaction Develops That Bear
Raiders Continue Retreat,
Begun Yesterday.
BY STUART i. WEST.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, August w eakness
developed again this morning in some
of the oil stocks Phillips Petroleum
made a new low when it broke 81,
and so did Skelly under Il. Other
oils were off only fractionally. For
little while the rest of the list saGged
off bit, but the market quickly re-
sumed the recovery, which had tenn
porarily been checked toward the
close Monday. Steel common got
above SIS, American Locomotive made
a new high, Studebaker easily re-
gained the half point which it had
losfaat the start, and so did Baldwin
Locomotive. Mack Truck, Stewart
Warner and Stromberg were leaders
among the speeialties.
Midway through the forenoon the
greater part of the market was above
where it left off yesterday. 1t APP
peared that bear raiders Were con-
tinuing the retreat begun yesterday.
Happenings Mainly Favorable.
For the mos. part today's happen
ingS in the market Were favorable
Stocks showed a new ability to stand
up against professional selling of a
half dozen or so individual issues
The recovery of the previous day was
continued.
In cotton heavy realizing sales, after
the sensational advance Of Monday,
had to be absorbed at the opening
Then prices turned upward again
Nowhere in the seasons record has
there been an instance of such COM
plete reversal in the attitude of spec
ulators and dealers as in the cotton
trade.
The rise of over 5 cents a pound
in cotton within ten days must be
considered in it's bearing upon the
buying power of the south, and hence
upon the general trade outlook.
This is quite as important an occur
renee on the favorable side of the
business picture as was last months 5
drop of 6 cents busheI in wheat
prices on the unfavorable side. 1t
was only logical that speculative
Wall street should have given some
heed today to the much improved
prospects for the cotton sellers.
Manufactories Hopeful.
There were further reports by man
ufacturinG corporations for the sec
ond quarter of 1923 and, except for
American Hide and Leather, these
were excellent. Undoubtedly their
publication eXerted it's influence upon
the sentiment of the day. So did
press dispatches telling of the de-
termination of the new administra-
tion to take drastic measures to
avert an anthracite coal strike.
Shares of the hard coal carriers,
notably the Erie. were among the
leaders in the market.
More evidence was presented that
the price-cutting in the sugar trade
was over and that account was being
taken of the exceptionally low state
OF stocks of refined sugar in consum-
crs' hands.
Oil stocks were slower to rally than
almost any other group. The reason
lies, of course, in the fact that pro-
duction in the new California nelds
is going ahead at full speed, and is
not expected to reach its peak for
another six weeks or SO. This means
probably that the turning point in the
crude oil industry is still some dis
tance away.
No Reversal in Afternoon.
The stock market maintained its
Improvement through the afternoon
There were no signs. however, of the
increasing speculative interest that
might denote the coming of more
active market. Trading for the most
part was dull. The main feature was
the unwillingness of spectators re-
Gently busy on the short side to take
any further chance after the proofs
they have had for the last week or
more that real liquidation had ceased.
French francs rallied somewhat to-
ward the end of the day, but not be
fore they had got back almost to their
record low. The collapse in German
marks reached the ridiculous stage.
quoted 100000 to the dollar. Yes
terday they were quoted at over p
b00. 900. Today it took 100000 marks
to equal the dollar. But mas
much as the German paper mark has
ceased for all practical purposes to
be the unit in German business trans
actions. it is easy to exaggerate the
Importance of the sensational fall.