The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-05
STOCKS BUOYED !. BY. RAIL GAINS -zs~ -- Most Of Rise Wiped Out By Late Wave Of
 Realizing

NEW YORK, June 4.-Stock prices developed marked buoyancy early to. day under the leadership of the rail. road shares, but a wave of realizing and professional selling of the oil stocks developed toward the close, undermined the entire market and cancelled most of the days gains. Expanding trading activities which carried the total sales almost to S00,000 shares reflected the influence of favorable Washington de- velopments. .
 Outstanding strength of the railroad stocks, which maintained their lead throughout the day, indicated that Wall street placed great emphasis upon the scaIit possibility of adverse legislation in waning session of Congress. The broad buying movement of the rails, cenfered particularly in the southern and. southwestern carriers, carried a half! dozen or more issues to the hlgh- est levels of the. year.
 Recurrent rumors of additional oil price cuts provided the excuse for an attack on these issues, and the success of this drive unsettled other sections of the list. The weekly steel trade re- views, estimating the operations of the industry as whole at 50 per cent of capacity, offered little encouragement, although it was predicted that the June output would not fall far below this; s;figure.
 The response of the Senate's vote to adjourn Congress this week was most noticeable, in the, accumulation of rail shares. New high records for the year were established by Nickel Plate, Pere Marquette. Southern Railway and Mis- siuri Pacific common and preferred issues..z Atchison duplicated its 1924 high price of 1O312.
 American Waterworks, which was the feature of yesterdays trading, con tinued it's sensational advance, soaring more than $ points to a new high rec ord at 71 in the early trading. Sub seauent profit taking reduced its. gain and it closed the day at 61, net ad- vance of 2 points. Improvement in earnings, which, in the first quarter, were sufficient to cover z per cent preferred dividend requirements for the entire year, was the only explanation advanced for the action of the stock.
 Strength of American Waterworks impartedS a firm tone to other public utility issues, many of which sold at the years best. levels. Utah securities, West Penn. Power and Federal Light and Traction all attained new top prices for 1924.
 Although most industrial leaders fig ured in the early improvement, they ended the day with fractional reces- sions. A wave of price-cutting in raw and refined sugar exerted depressing influence on the stocks of these com .panies. Costlen and Producers and Re liners were singled out for attack among the oil shares, dropping IF to 2h points.
 A decline of about 20 points in French francs to below 5 cents for the second time this week provided the feature of the foreign exchange mar ket. Selling originating in speculative quarters and attributed to uneasiness over the French political situation forced the break in the. afternoon trad ing to around 49J cents. Earlier in the day the rate had held steady around 5.12 cents. Sterling closed fractlonally . lower, around $4.30%.
 Call money. after opening at per cent, receded to 2%, where it held until the close. Time funds were offered as low as 3% per cent, but the prevailing rate was to A on the longer ac- commodations. Gommercial paper was active, with rates unchanged from 4 to 41h per cent.