The Washington times., 1925-01-24
BULL|SH I 0 Ne
SHOWN ALL
WEEK
U. s. Steel Leads Stock Mar.
ket in Strong Forward,
Movement
By w. s. COUSINS.
international News Service Financial

Editor.
NEW YORK Jan. 24.-In one OF
the most impressive buying move
ments witnessed since the war
baby" days of 1917, United States.
Steel led the stock market this week
in an enthusiastic forward move
ment Of prices, in the course Of
which the markets major Industrial
stock eclipsed all Of its former price
records since that time. and sold
only a few points below the high
record for all time.
But the stock market by no means
monopolized the attention OF those
who are interested in the financial
markets. Wheat prices responded
to the increasing evidences OF world
shortage and the insistent buying
for home and foreign consumption.
Bears in the grain markets were
routed as prices Of wheat. rye and
corn scared two to five cents q
bushel in single session. The
British pound sterling topped 4.S0
on what is generally believed to be
the last lap of its journey to par
worth about Sab.
The long awaited advances ir
crude oil and gasoline prices, In
dfcating the turn in the tide 10
the petroleum industry, made the i
appearance this week. None
markets were favorable to the cor
tinuation of speculative activity.
'efS Bears Active.
Z svTyl4.> ~,,nn1y aD,@n..x.l ,,vs&l. A..IT.n-
forces displaying extreme consei
more courage than at any tim
since the turn of the year. The
disposition of Wall street seeme1
to be take profits on speculative
stock ventures and to await deveI-
opments; a policy naturally en-
couraged by the big commission
houses. Stocks were offered in
liberal quantity "all over the
board" and with few exceptions
prices showed tendency to follow
the irregular course which dcrni
mated some of the sessions OF the
previous week. Even the oil stocks
which had hardly started their
promised forward movement, showed
stems of hesitancy, while market
leaders in. the industrial and motor
list lost a good portion OF their
That much of this early selling
was for the account of bearisE
traders, was evident from the in
crease in demand for stocks in the
loan crowd, and the urgent buy
ing. at the stock market" which
manifested itself later in the week.
1t appeared that the professional
shorts had not correctly gauged
the buying power Of the outside
public, which has been q heavy
tI1ver OF the better grade or div1-
dend Industrial and railroad shares,
end had also fallen a victim to the
.,owerful bullish pools which are
operating in special lines Of stock
The wholesale increases In prices
of crude oil and gasoline. among
other benefits to the petroleum n.
dustry, means an enormous al
vance in the holding value Of the
oil stored by the large buyers of
oil. Having previously marked down
their Inventory values to CORE
spcnd with the price slashes in
1924, those companies may now
properly advance them in the rieas-
ure equivalent to the new price
schedule established this week.
Industrials Strong.
The impressive feature of the
trading was the strength and
activity of the high priced indus
trial leaders like American Can.
Cast Iron. Pipe. Baldwin Locomo-
tive, American Sugar, Allied Chem
ical, DUPONT, Commercial Solvents
and other stocks which have been
partially submerged for the last
two weeks while the oil stocks
held sway. Extreme advances in
these stocks ranged from six to
twenty points with buoyancy in
creasing as prices reached the
upper levels.
The relapses which occurred in
the first part of the week and in
most of the sessions of the prev
ious week were hailed In Wall
Street as necessary digestive
periods, the effect OF which is ex-
pected to be beneficial to the
market.
Industrial reports for the week
were favorable, the Improvement
shown in Bethlehem Steel corpor-
atoms earnings statement being
fairly typical of the progress made
in the last quarter of 1924.