Evening star., 1927-05-02
STOCKS CO HIGHER
|NLATE DEALINGS
Prices Harden After Warning
4 of IrreguIarity-RaIIy
5s Staged by Oils.
BY GEORGE T. HUGHES.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, May 2.--After a
morning of irregularity. today's stock
market hardened in the afternoon
under the leadership Of motor shares.
The advance was headed by General
Motors and Mack Trucks. The snow
OF strength in this group brought
about short covering in other parts
Of the list and recoveries from the
oarl1, lows in the steels and some of
the oils.
Money had renewed at Ala per cent,
which was u per cent down from the
charge for new loans on Friday. IL
was predicted that the statement or
brokerage loans to be given out aIter
the close would show a small increase,
but inasmuch as the period covered
would not include the days of heavy
Ijnuidation last week, no concern was
felt on this account.
The rally in the oils was most con-
spicuous in those stocks. such as Mar
land, Phillips and BarnsdaH, which
had been sold most heavily last week.
but all of them participated more or
less.
operations for the rise in General
Motors were founded upon the eXpec-
tation Of an extra dividend Sugar
Porto Rico sold up to a new high for
tho present form of capitalization.
The morning activity on the side OF
advance was in the lower priced rails
shares. Some of these were very
strong. particularly Chicago Great
Western preferred, which made new
high for the year, when the common
had a sharp rise. Another instance
was that of the Chicago & Eastern II
linois and still another the st. Paul
stocks. Chicago & Alton shares were
active for a time as well. In this
same general class probably comes
the Hudson & Manhattan. The pre-
ferred and common stocks Of the lat.
ter sold today at the highest for all
time.
No New Explanation.
There was no new explanation for
the strength in any one of these
stocks. The Illinois Central. the
Atchison, the Northern Pacific and
Great Northern have all been men
toned from time to time as interested
in the Chicago Great Western. The
Pennsylvania is generally supposed to
be willing to take over the Hudson
and Manhattan, but all this is specu-
lative gossip without confirmation in
responsible quarters. Nevertheless,
Is continued to serve the purpose of
stimulating interest in the stocks.
The higher-grade investment rail-
road shares moved uncertainty. Atchi-
son, at one time, dipped below 1S0 to
within a fraction of the low of last
week. Lackawanna was lower, but
Chesapeake & Ohio was fractionally
higher. B. & o. was well supported
also. Pennsylvania, selling eX-divi-
dend, was consistently firm. All last
week during the weakness in the
other railroad stocks there was per-
sistent demand for Pennsylvania,
narily favorable earnings statement
for March.
Steel stocks were heavy. United
States Steel, selling below 165, was
lower than at any time last week.
Crucible made the same sort of a
record when it broke below "a. Other
independent steels were in supply, ex-
cepting Colorado Fuel and Iron, which
holds the same position among the
steel stocks as Houston Oil does in
its group.
Gasoline Peace Denied.
Standard OIL of California and Cali
fornia Petroleum started in higher,
perhaps rejecting the report that
peace had been made in the gasoline
lprice-cutting war on the Pacific Coast.
This story later in the day was de-
MED. Other oil shares were mostly
unchanged or lower. Standard OIL of
/, New York broke below 80 to a new
low for the year after a large block
had been taken at that price. Such
new statistics as came to hand showed
ethat there was no let.up in the excess
of oil production.
There was one or two strong utili.
ties, the most conspicuous Of which
was Federal Light & Traction, which
moved up to a new high for the year
on talk Of q merger development. It
was a fact, however, that earnings
have shown uniform gains for long
time now. which would be just as logi-
cal, if not SO popular, an explanation.