The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-01-09
FINANCIAL COMMENT.
Copyright. 1923. by Cosmopolitan
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NEW YORK. Jan. 9.-Profes.
siona1 opinion relative to the stock
market and its immediate future
is by no means unanimous on any
point. Those who are heavily com.
mitted TO the bull side OF the mar.
ket are enthusiastic In the enumera-
[ ton of the factors that should op.
crate for higher prices, namely, the
inspiring progress OF domestic bust
ness, the probability that the for.
eign war clouds will be blown away
in due time, and the general ease
| in the money situation. They also
rely upon the fact. that in every
one of the tight jams in which the
market has found itself In the past
year, good support has been forth
, coming from strong financial inter
ests and stocks have gravitated
from weaker to stronger hands.
The general trading public, on
the other hand, seems to be exer
cising extreme caution on the
theory that anything might hap
pen" as result of the tense situa
/ ton in European politics. 1t is also
of interest to know that between
| Thursday of last week and the first
day of this week, the market trans
actions swung from a volume OF
/ ], 400, 200 to less than 100000 shares
!, To say the least, this is not sug
| gestive of heavy public participa
! ton.
| With the advance Of a number of
1.-THE speculative favorites to higher
price levels than they have attained
in a year or more, the interest of
, traders has been diverted from
them to those sections of the mar
ket which have not featured very
prominently in the recent forward
march of prices. Some of the
stocks under consideration are ex-
detrimental, but others belong to the
old line dividend class.
A number of the large commits
sion houses report an increasing In
quiry for the dividend railroad
stocks. While there is likely to be
very little of a spectacular nature
in stocks of this class. they are
held to be excellent pot boilers for
those who are awaiting develop
ments elsewhere. Not all Of the
speculative features have been
eliminated, however. for there Is
still talk of increasing dividends in
such stocks as New York Central,
Atchison. Atlantic Coast Line and
others.
1t now seems to be settled that
the Van Sweringen interests at
Cleveland have obtained control Of
the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad.
They have applied to the Interstate
Commerce Commission for permits
sion to occupy the offices on this
road with the understanding that
the road is not operating in COM
petition with the Nickel Plate and
other roads in which they are in
terested. In obtaining control, the
Van Sweringens purchased their
stock from the Huntington estate
and a number Of their associates.
The stock has been of particular
speculative interest in the last few
weeks.
Reports that important Kansas
City and New York financial In
terests will undertake complete
reorganization of the now defunct
firm of Houston, Fible & Co. will
be good news to a large circle of
investors in the Middle Western
section OF the country. Western
| attorneys have reported that no
attempt has yet been made to
| liquidate the firm on the usual
bankruptcy basis. but that the pro-
| tective committee has agreed to
hold the assets pending negotiations
! which might relieve customers from
loss.