Evening star., 1923-02-05
New HIGHS MADE
IN SOME STOCKS
European News Quite Largely
Ignored After Declines at
0pemng-RaiIs Strong.
BY STUART p. WEST.

Special Dispatch to The Star. >
NEW YORK, February 5.-The stock
market today was n mixture of heavy
realizing sales and fresh buying, giving
the price movement very irregular
appearance. In the main, an abundant
buying. power was disclosed and the
pools busted themselves again with
their specialties regardless of the un-
favorable character of the European
news.
Mack Trucks, Stew ewart-Warner and
American Can, Tobacco stocks showed
the effect of Better support. and there
was considerable short covering In
ucts issues. Coppers were inclined to
pay more attention to the advance in
quotations for the metal across the
n5ceent level on the other 1al hand and
steels. in the equipments in most of
the motors and in some of last week s
prime favorites, like the sugar stocks
and the shares of electrical manufac-
turing companies.
special selling again appeared in
American Cotton Oil and Virginia
Carolina Chemical for the reason
already pointed out that these COM
nue. from the sale of cotton seed oil.
and that they are unable to get the
price OF the finished product up to
an extent sufficient to balance the
rise in cotton seed
Railroad shares were more active
and stronger, with Baltimore and
Ohio crossing so and Pere Marquette
up to 40 again. Dividends on the lat
ter stock are considered reasonably
likely later in the year.
Texas and Pacific was bought on
the anticipation that the marked i'm
provement in the oil trade since the
first of the year would mean further
expansion in the traffic of the road.
back OF the operations in the st.
Louis and San Francisco stocks. This
road is earning enough now to easily
warrant dividend on the small issue
, of preferred stock outstanding.
MathieSon Alkali rose to the highest
price il has sold in the past three
years. The advance was not attribut-
ed to any dividend possibilities. but
rather TO the generally good financial
position of the company and the eX-
pectat!on that the net income in 1928
will be $40 share as compared with
something like 81 in 1922. The COM
pany will wipe out all it's notes pay
bic early this year, and will un-
ferced stock, amounting to Z per cent,
or about 5000, 900. Dividends on the
common may then be looked for.
Review and Outlook.
How much the break up of the
Lausanne conference and the extern
sion of the French occupation cam
paign into southern Germany were
factors in the financial markets to-
day was rather hard to determine.
Undoubtedly they We're responsible
for the reaction in the foreign ex-
change rates. the moderate decline in
European government bonds and the
hesitation shown on the London
stock exchange and at times in our
own stock market. But sterling hav-
ing gone in single week from
81 63A to S4.6S4, and francs having
recovered 2, of cent from their low,
some setback was to be anticipated,
II for no other reasons than specu-
latiIe conditions.
In the same way such selling as came
into the security markets would have
been readily enough accounted for by
the familiar Monday morning profit
taking" after a week of rising prices.
AS a matter of fact, therefore. while
the failure at Lausanne and the French
entrance into Baden were ostensibly the
cause of the moderate reaction in some
markets. this reaction might easily have
come about without anything happen
Ing in the news. Had the fina ncial COM
that the Turks would go to war or that
there was any danger of another Euro
pean confiagration they would not have
oontented themselves with any sucir
The drop of nearly a cent in sterling
suggested that for the time being, at
least, the favorable effect of the British
debt agreement had been exhausted in
this quarter But the advance continued
sharply in liberty bonds. carrying all
the 4A per cent loans to the highest
reached SO far this year. This, of
course, was due to the proposition to
allow payments from the British treas
ury to be made in United States gov
ernnent bonds. the logical result Of
which would be to keep our entire gov
eminent bond group close to par in
definitely. These bonds were still SELL
ing today only a fraction above 80. =.
Firm Upward Trend.
AS the afternoon went on what lit
tie signs of wavering there had been
in the stock market earlier in the
day were completely thrown off. A
vigorous buying movement set in in
the railway shares under the lead of
the coal stocks. An abrupt jump in
Central of New Jersey stock led to a
renewal of the talk that either a
special cash distribution or a stock
dividend was under consideration.
Baltimore and Ohio got across 81.
Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific
were bid up sharply and Southern
Pacific also reached a new high for
the present movement - =
In the industrial section stocks
which had held back in the forenoon
Nvere again taken up. The market OF
the last hour and a half in point of
the number of issues that figured in
the buying was the broadest of any