Evening star., 1924-03-18
NEW Low RECORDS
IN STOCK MARKET
E.1otors and Motor Supply
Shares Under Hardest
Pressure.
BY STUART r. WEST.


!. Special Dispatch to The Star.
n NEW YORK, March 1S.-Speculat-
ii ors for the decline in the stock mar
I. ket today again concentrated their
u efforts mainly upon the motor sand
Z motor supply stocks. The charge
/ was made once more that Of the big
business done during the first two
7 months of the year large percent
s,ase had been with automobile deal
'.ers.. The street was full Of talk.
Vim consequence. that later in the year
Z the automobile trade would reach
. the saturation stage.
= Studebaker was under severe pres
\ sure at the lowest of the present
e show lack of support and WHY'S
+. Overland preferred broke badly below
Y so. In connection with the weakness
= in Stromberg and in Stewart Warner
hthe latter breaking 80, the contention
= was that these companies had oeeh
Z: TOO liberal in their dividend paymehtS
: and that these dividends We're likely
to be cut. Bosch Magnetic was weak,
. selling under, 80 for the first time TINS
z year, and Hayes Wheel was off l3
4 points from its 1924 high.
z, Steels Under Pressure.
: Steel stocks were under pressure,
: but in most instances showed fair re-
sistance.
The complete 1923 figures on Beth
lehem Steel merely confirmed the pre-
liminary report, given out some time
ago. showing nearly 6E per. per eeas as
against per cent distributed. Inc
4 report had little effect on Bethlehem
shares. Bear operators found II hard
after getting Steel common below lol
!, The decline in the coppers, with
Anaconda below SS and Kennecott
around 50, was merely sympathetic
with the general movement. Follow
: ing Mondays decline in raw sugar
prices. refined sugar broke sharply.
The position of the sugar industry is
no different however. from what 1t
has been right along. Latest esti-
mates have somewhat reduced the
probable total of the 1924 Cuban
crop, placing it around S.600,000 tons.
or substantially what it was last
year.
: Rails Resist Break.
= Among the rails the best acting
were Norfolk and Western, Chesa-
peake and Ohio and Southern Rail-
way common. There was q sale of
Z American Sumatra preferred at AS Il
against 53, the last previous transac-
ton on Saturday. On the other
on in stocks which had been partic-
ularly weak on previous days and
in which good profit had accumu-
lated on the short side. Among these
were Coca Cola, which rallied quite
sharply; Tobacco Products and the
leather shares. The oils also came
in for better support, even during
the stage when other stocks were
falling
In explanation for the remarkable
afr nxrfh nd o-ai 10
day in Interborough Rapid Transit,
it was said first of all that pool had
been formed in the stock to exploit
it's favorable earnings position. APP
parently this pool had been waiting
to make sure that the New York state
Legislature was going to adjourn be-
fore there was any likelihood of any
transit legislation which would in
crease competition with the present
companies. This assurance was given
in the announcement that the legis-
lature would adjourn early in April.
Outside the stock market the two
most important happenings were the
renewed decline in wheat and in 9TH
CT agricultural commodities and a
further recovery in French francs.
The latter got above the scent level
highest since the last week in De-
cember. The recent decline in ster-
ling was at least temporarily checked.
Special Market Features.
Chesapeake and Ohio continued to
act well, even while the market was
generally weak. The buying recent
ly has been accompant21 by reports
that the Van Sweringen interests
have been accommodating larger hold
ings and that the dividend voUld lie
increased from s4 to s6 annually. To-
day the street was talking about the
possibility of Il 81 dividend.
The usual gossip about che size Of
the short interest has accompanied
the late decline in Hide and Leather.
On Monday the preferred lost two points
and today its movment was irreg-
ular.
It is said that there is a short in
terest Of at least 10000 shares in Hide
and Lea ther preferred. The statement
have loaned 4,S00 shares to the shorts
since the current downward swing
set in.
WHY'S Overland shares finally sue
motor group. the preferred breaking
we'll under so. In 1923 s5.32 share
was earned on the common after al
lowing z per cent on the preferred, as
better earning power has strength
aued the belief that the 22& per cent
acGruals on the preferred would be
wiped out before the end of 1924. But
lively small working capital position
with only s55S,000 cash, and was re-
vising its view about back dividends.
j. Further Breaks at Close.
Tobacco Products broke badly on
the publication of the annual report
showing earnings of only s1.35 on the
common stock. The discrepancy be-
tween this very poor result and the
optimistic predictions made repeated
" during the year were so great that
it naturally came in for unfavorable
comment. This comment was not al
lsltsa nv Ia fa a
president that there was no intention
of cutting dividends, because the 1928
figures do Not begin to show the pres
ent earning power of the company.
4 violent fall occurred in United
States Rubber shares, carrying them
10 new low prices At so Rubber first
preferred was selling on a 10 per cent
basis and the street, of course, was
talking about the dividend being
passed altogether at the meeting,
which is due any time now.
PRICES COLLAPSE AT CLOSE.