Evening star., 1923-03-19
GENERAL ADVANCES
IN STOCK MARKET
Today's Gains Spread
Through Nearly Entire List.
New Highs for Move.
RY STU ART 4. WEST.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, March 19.-oils and
equipment shares were the leaders in
the market today.
In the oil group attention was
chiefly directed toward stocks which
have the best possibilities of early
dividend increases. Among these were
Sinclair Oil. Marland and Producers
and RefncrS. In the last named a
strong pool was recently formed with
much the same personnel and leader
.hip that was back of the first ad-
Nanc" fIom 80 up. The trading IN
Sinclair AS It rose from around SS 10
above - was extremely heavy. the
street feeling sure that the DIVIDEND
would be raised from the present 81
tu at least 81 and possibly 81. Ia X
IT q stock dividend was back OF Lhe
buying III Texas Company.
Equipments at New Tops.
New high records were made in
Baldwin Locomotive. American Loeb
motive and Lima. but there were no
Developments in their case. Traders
were simply going by the apparent
iact that. despite their advance the
supply Of these stocks had not ma
IcrIally Increased.
1hc stccls did better. Gulf States
distinguished itself by getting up to
par. The market is expected the
present dividend of 81 TO be doubled.
Now that the Crucible Steel dividend
meeting is over and chance has been
given Ia absorb any disappointment
,thaJ might have been felt because no
action Was taken on the dividend, The
-oc!< has begun TO do better. lnas-
much American Water Works is
considerably more than earning diTi-
dends on all three classes Of stock.
!he expectation OF a distribution be-
fore long on the per c@nt preferred
l. certainly not unrea sOnahiC. The
stock was still in demand today.
I'unta Alegrc sugar stood out among
the other members of the group,
reaching a new high above g..
Review and Outlook.
Another outburst of buying came
in;o the market today and swept
l-iiccs forward pretty much all
through the list There were many
new j. Sh reScCrdS established for the
year. and at Cns time or anothe r
nearly every group ON the list came
IN Tor more or less attention. Many
"f these upward movements were
short lived. the mode of procedure
Icing to rush forward first one set Of
stocks and then another, forsakins 9
the first set as soon as the next one
WAS taken up. BY no stretch of the
.na Gnation could it be assumed that
. upward swings of this character were
Inc result of spontaneous buying
either from within Wall street or
from the outside. They were typical
"f highly professional market.
where the nimble trading element
vas constantly slipping out Of old
1avoritss into new
~ the same time While the per-
CeRtaGr' 'of real investments was un-
""uht"dly very small. while the main
ihSplfa tIonS came from pools and pro-
icHSl"nal operators. the fact of most
immaculate Importance was that these
"n"ratjOnS were not encounterine
C1ouCh selling to warrant their let
Gr. In Other words. real holders of
stock while they have been selling
moderately. no doubt on the rise Of
Inc last month. have not Vet been
ed to unload in sufficient volume
10 discourage the campaign for the
advance.
Foreign News Brighter
In all the markets the impress sion
was that the over Sunday news
from Europe was brighter. that what
ever might he said officially from
cIther French or German sources as
L" their inte ntion TO see the Ruhr
contest through, both parties would
Welcome settlement by compromise
IhIS view was most strongly express
'Std IN french exchange which was up
again sharply on the day Of the SELL
ing half cent above where il was
d week ago. This is the largest ad-
vance IN similar period. that the
frame has had since last autumn. 1t
may mean nothing more than a short
interest taking spite at the pCsSibil-
iiN of a settlement on repara tfons
hut on tho other hand. it might easily
reflect real banking judgment on the
question.
Corn Products Declines.
The h"Sta'ncy Of corn products at
current levels ard particularly its d.
cline below i.%0 today was rather
notic'ailo. in view Of the strength
in most classes of industrial stocks
I n : action was set down as due to
several things. one was the idea
that peonl" who Ssought action were
switching for tho time being from
corn products into other Industrial
stocks which were moving. Another
was that the company is experience
ing a temporary decrease in its ex-
port business.