The Washington times., 1924-04-12
B { A RS ACTIVE
DUR|NGPAST
WEEK
Led by Decline of High Priced
Stocks, Selling Pressure
Increased All Week.
By w. s. COUSINS.
Copyright, 1924. by Cosmopolitan
News Service).

copyright, 1924, by Cosmopolitan
News Service).
NEW YORK, April 12.-Selling
pressure gradually increased in the
stock market this week and, led by
the precipitate decline of a few of
the high.priced shares, industrials
gave way and the bears were in
the ascendancy. Bearish sentiment
spread to a larger section of pro.
fessional Wall Street and while in
bulltsh circles the market was char.
acterized as a "one-man market"
short sellers were glad to seize the
opportunity presented by the an.
parent 'rout of the bulls.
Though Wall Street bankers were
generally favorable to the Dawes
commission report, some disappoint.
ment was expressed at it's failure
to attempt to fix a minimum total
for reparations. At any rate, the
report failed entirely as a stimu.
liant for the bullish position of the
market. and its publication was
hailed with a flood of selling orders
for industrials.
Many Declines
The bears found a good ally in
the monthly untitled tonnage re-
port Of the United States Steel Cor.
poration, revealing a. decline of
about 100000 tons in forward orders
against an anticipated showing OF
100000 tons. Slowing down of mills
and motor manufacturing plants
were reported in the speculative dis
trict, apparently confirming con.
illusions previously drawn from SIM
liar reports over a period of three
or four weeks.
The decline Of 81 points in Wool.
worth was due to disappointment
In the dividend basis of new stock
as split up on q four-for-one basis.
Heavy selling Of this stock was
the opening gun in the bear drive
on the market this week, and ir.
regularity soon spread to other
leaders, many Of which declined TO
new low prices for the year. Those
at new low levels include United
States Steel, American Can, Ameri.
can Wooden, Baldwin Locomotive,
Crucible Steel, Dupont, Studebaker,
Dawson Chemical and Willys.Over.
land preferred. In some cases, no.
tably American Sugar, the declines
this week carried prices down to
the lowest levels in history of the
stocks.
Oils Strong.
The oils and railroads continued
to exhibit the strength that has
characterized them in similar sharp
downward movements since the new
year; and, while in numerous cases
they were compelled to give ground,
margin of losses was narrower
than in the industrial list. Stimuli.
taneously with the descent of mar.
ket leaders, two Of the active rail.
road shares, Western Pacific and
Texas and Pacific, and American
Water Works, registered new high
prices for the year.
Estimates Of outstanding short In.
terest were revised upward this
week as definite information con.
corning the volume OF brokers'
loans disclosed a further decline.
Despite the extent of this short
interest the bears seemed in no
hurry to cover, activity indicating
their determination to uncover stop
loss orders further down.
Business Unchanged.
General business and financial
sentiment was unchanged. Bankers
and business leaders. apparently
chatting under continued delay of
Congress to push through tax re-
form measures, attribute uneasi-
ness in business to this cause. The
downward range of commodity
prices was emphasized in almost
every market, cotton the outstand.
ing exception. Gains in spot cot
ton and futures have brought prices
UP about 5 cents or $25 q bale from
the low two weeks ago. Grain
markets rallied the beginning Of the
week, but subsequently lost their
position. Money markets continue
firm, with borrowing funds in
abundance. Some new bond issues
were easily absorbed this week.