Evening star., 1924-03-28
SELL|NGPRESSURE
HITS STOCK LISTS
Slight Rally in First Half
Hour of Trading Offset
by Bears.
by SIT ART +. WEST.

Special Dispatch 10 The star.
NEW YORK. March 2S.--For Il
half hour or so at the outset today
the stock market showed signs OF
raHying. The two groups--rails and
"ils--which had done the best on the
previous days, were the leaders in
the recovery. a large short interest
accumulated in Northwestern railway
stocks was driven in on the strength
Of the February traffic statements
Northern Pacific showing a net Of
%l,466.000 against deficit of S32 .00G
last year. and Great Northern net
nf S66S,000 against Il deficit OF
$4,000 in February. 1928. st. Paul
preferred reached IS and Chicago
Northwestern at So was up points
Northern Pacific ross ~ points. and
Great Northern preferred. IL. Union
Pacific crossed l30 for the first time
IN quite while, and New York Cen
tral was strong.
Bears Become Aggressive.
But this little demonstration on the
buying side was quickly over. The ag-
grcssiyeness was all the other way.
and before noon Il violent selling
movement launched against the steel
shares shook the entire list United
States Steel common was driven down
below 9S, for the first time this year
and Bethlehem steel and Republic
iron and Steel also made new lows,
The talk IF price cutting IL the steel
industry accompanied the selling. Also
the street was saying that United
states Steel would do what American
Ean had done. namely omit the extra
dividend.
The bear PARTY. cmbofdcned 10y re-
cent successes, We're singing out
stocks which had been showing the
strongest support and were down the
least from their high prices. In TINS
category were Corn Products and
General Electric. which had their
break in the last hour Thursday. To-
dav the attack shifted to Norfolk anu
Western. Southern Railway common
United States Cast Iron Pipe, and one
or two others which had had com
paratively little reaction. The break
in Norfolk and Western was particu-
iarly disconcerting, in view of the
optimiStic estimates regarding tne
terms of the Pennsylvania lease. IL
quickly cast a damper upon the buy
ing movement in other parts OF tht
railway list.
breaks to New Lows.
American WOolcr broke again Il
new lows for the year. the idea belEs
that the very untavorablc conditions
in the cotton goods trade would nave
q sympathetic effect upon the wootei
industry. The newly listed feilo"
Taxicab shares fell sharply, and spe'
,iaI weakness continued in AuStir
Nichols. despite reports that the l92'
statement would show 81 earned OF
the common.
Quiet OutSide Market.
Outside the stock market there was
very little OF interest. Sterling eX-
change went down a fraction, while
francs gave evidence of having been
stabilized, at least for the time be-
ing just under the $50 level. Some
recovery occurred in cotton. but in
wheat and corn there was a further
sagging of prices. The sugar market
was not affected by the Willard and
Gray estimate Of stocks on hand ii
Cuba showing Il total of IA:
tons against S66,256 year ago. This
did not mean corresponding in
crease in the Cuban crop; it could
have been explained quite readily by
the circumstance that the grinding
season has been earlier and that sup
plies awaiting shipment have been
accommodating more rapidly.