Evening star., 1926-12-17
STOCK PRICES SOAR
ON STEEL DIVIDEND
Frenzied Buying Attends
Roaring "BulI" Market
"a,
on Wall Street.
By the Associated Press.


NEW YORK. December 17.-Wall
button of a 5000, 900 900 melon to com.
mon stockholders Of the United States
Steel Corporation was reflected today
in one of the greatest "bulP' move
ments in recent Stock Exchange his
tory. United States Steel common,
Atchison common and handful of
other high-grade industrial and rail-
road issues scared to the highest
prices ever recorded, while dozens of
others mounted to new peak prices
for the year or longer on gains run
ming from l to 25 points. Total stock
sales in the first two hours approx.
mated 1,475.000 shares, as against
slightly less than 1,140,000 shares in
the same period yesterday.
Transactions in United States Steel
common alone exceeded half mil
lion shares in the first two hours of
| trading, or more than one-third CT the
total sales in that period The stock
had touched the new record high of
| 3s before noon.
Extreme gains of 4 to
points were recorded in the early trad
| ing by Commercial Solvents "B." AL
lied Chemical, National Lead, Ameri
can Smelling, Atchison, United States
Cast Iron Pipe and American Type
Founders.
Frenzied trading characterized the
opening Of the market, the floor of the
| exchange presenting a scene of wild
confusion as brokers struggled to exc
cute the orders which had poured into
the market overnight from all sections
i.
transactions in Steel common take
place, was surrounded by tightly
packed mob of brokersAfs the opening
gong sounded. The ringing Of the
gong was drowned by the shouts and
shrieks of brokers. 1t was nearly 1C
minutes before a committee. of the ex
change could decide upon a fair open
ing price for Steel.
Huge Blocks Bought.
After the first sale of Steel. strings
of transactions, running from 1000 to
10000 shares, changed hands at fire.
quent intervals, the stock holding well
within the limits of the opening quo
tation during the first half hour. Total
sales in the first Is minutes of this
stock ran close to 10000 shares.
In addition to the United States
Steel dividend, Wall Street was con
fronted by another series of favorable
overnight news developments, includ
ing the raising of the Crucible Steel
dividend from SIS to $6, the resumption
of dividends on United States Indus
trial Alcohol common and Freeport
Texas common and a batch of Christ
mas dividends" by smaller Industrial
companies.
Atchison opened 3% points higher
at 1921, the. highest price ever re-
corded for that stock, and New York
Central, Texas and Pacific, Pullman
Baldwin. American Smelling, Interna
tional Harvester, South Porto Ricar
Sugar and United Drug showed earl,
gains of 2 to points.
Texas and Pacific land trust. which
sold early this year at $51O a share
| change hands today at $1,925 q share
| a record high price and an overnicht
| jump of SIS.
Workers to Benefit.
Thousands of steel workers. from
the puddlers in the mills to the of
| ficials in the executive offices. viii
benefit through the cutting of the stee
melon" as they were given an oppor
! tunity earlier in the year to purchas,
stock on the installment plan at S13.
a share. Subsequently, they witnessed
the stock drop more than 10 point.
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