Evening star., 1926-10-18
Covering AFFORDS
STOCK LIST BOOST
Rail Shares More Responsive
to Change for Better in
Today'S Session.
BY STUART r. WEST.
.nial niEnnt..h fn I'hn Stnr

'Pt'Idi DiADdttn 10 i ne star.
NEW YORK. October 1S.-At the
opening Of the stock market today a
lot of fresh selling came in. causing a
good deal Of unsettlement. But these
offerings were simply taken from two
sources. one by traders who had de-
cided that it was time to take profits
on the short side. the other by other
speculative interests who had their
minds set on the likelihood of at
least temporary turn.
This attitude seemed logical after
study of stock prices with those Of
fortnight ago. 1t was one of the
most severe drops which have occur
red in a similar space Of time in re-
cent years. Even so well founded in
he excessive speculation of the Sum
mer. in the disappointing developments
IN various lines of industry. and in
the greater uncertainty of the business
outlook generally. such violent ex-
tensive break might well have called
Tor u rally even il this We're not to
prove l.: sting"
As the group upon which opera
tionS for the decline had converged
more than upon any other. and in
which. therefore, there was reason to
figure the largest short interest, it
WAS natural that these stocks felt par
ticularly the force of the covering
movement. This was true of General
Motors Hudson Motor, du Pont and
Mack Trucks. Studebaker was con-
Spicuous exception by getting down to
= new low for the present movement
yellow Truck. which had closed at
-97s Saturday, dropped below %, then
rallied.
Railway shares were more respon-
EiNe than most other securities to the
change for the better. 1t did not take
much buying to put stocks like Atchi
son and Atlantic Coast Line up sharp
ly. The Van Sweringen leaders-CheS-
apealle and Ohio. Pere Marquette, and
Nickel Plate-came back easily. Chica-
80 and Northwestern and New York
central did better. Southern Railway.
however, continued to feel the infiu-
rnre of the cotton situation by hang
ing behind most of the other rails.
Oil stocks We're mixed most of the
time and on the whole rather slug
gish Standard Oil of California was
lower, Union Oil of California, and
Shell Union little changed. Phillips Pc
troleum and Atlantic Refining rallied
n bit. hut it was plain that little new
interest was being taken in this class
OF stocks.
United States Steel behaved de-
cidedly better and along with the
motors and rails led the recovery.
Sloss.Sheffield dropped two points.
IN the industrial quarter. Warner
Brothers Pictures, Montgomery Ward.
Allied chemical. Foundation Co..
American Smelling and Radio Cor
poration all Joined in the advance.
on the other hand. a sharp break
Of some three points took place in
American Locomotive. This could not
have been explained, except on the
~upDosition that while the railroads
with their big traffic We're buying
Inora ~ Is. their purchases Of equip
ment might not he up to expectations.
This. however, was merely a conjec-
turC.
Call money loaned at Az per cent.
as against D per cent at the close of
last week. but this little change was
not an influence in Wall Street cal
culations. The Street was speaking
about trade and not about credit.