Evening star., 1927-08-19
TREND UNCERTAIN
! IN STOCK MARKET
IrreguIarity, However, Modi-
! fled Under Lead of High
Grade Shares.
BY GEORGE T. HUGHES.

NEW YORK, August 19.-After
two hours of irregular and uncertain
movement, the Stock Market this aft.
ernoon hardened under the leadership
OF the highpriced shares. General
Motors more than made up the $2
dividend which came off the price.
General Electric ran up over 9 points
and American Smelling and Refining
did the same, while L. S. Steel i'm
proved to a lesser extent.
Notwithstanding this show of
strength in the industrial favorites.
business was on a small scale and
the general list slow to respond. The
market seemed TO be balancing easy
money against doubt about profit mar
gins for any except the strongest
corporations.
Money at 81 Per Cent.
Money held at 3ia per cent all day
The market hardened in the after
noon, but continued dull. There was
show Of strength in the utilities. in
Guiding Consolidated Gas, Peoples Gas
of Chicago and Commonwealth Pow
er. New York Central came to the
front among the rails. General
Motors extended its morning. gain and
Steel held firm around the best Of the
session.
More attention was paid to indus
trial conditions, the outlook in the
steel trade, the falling off in car load
ings and the different position for the
oil producers. The oil stocks them
selves were irregular, but with most
of the changes downward. 1t looked
as IL the short covering Of the pre-
ceding session had weakened their
technical status, while there was little
incentive to new buying. The half
yearly statements Of the oil companies
have practically all been discourag-
ing reading to stockholders. Standard
Oil of California, Shell Union and
Barnsdall were among the oils in
supply today.
Steel Shares Sluggish.
Steel shares were sluggish. United
States Steel made the best showing,
but Bethlehem was resting after it's
series Of new highs, and Crucible SEEM
ed to be meeting stock whenever it
was bid up. Colorado Fuel failed to
carry through.
With the railroad group net changes
were mixed. Shares of the anthracite
carriers behaved better than the rest.
Delaware & Hudson, and Lehigh Val
ley were both higher, while Baltimore
& Ohio was steady. On the other hand
stocks Of roads operating in the South
west were heavy, including Missouri
Pacific and st Louis Southwestern
The action of Rock Island negotiated
the idea of any increase in the divi-
dend at next week. meeting. South
ern Railway was in demand for a time
and Great Northern, Northern Pacific,
Chicago & Northwestern were favor.
ably regarded, the last named showing
at one time gain Of over a point.
General Motors Group.
In the motor group the feature was
General Motors. which. selling ex the
81 dividend, was up on the day. Trad.
ing was begun in the new stock on a
when-issued basis. Short covering
kept up in Mack Trucks, putting the
price up a point above par. White
Motor, the dividend meeting of which
is scheduled for today, improved SYM
pathetically. In general the automo-
bile shares were steady, although Hud-
son fluctuated rather nervously.
There were a few new highs, the
worth, at the best for the present no.
par-value shares, and Baldwin, at the
highest for all time. Pittsburgh Coal
had characteristic run-up and Good
rich Rubber was strong. Abitibi
Power featured the utilities at the
best since the stock was listed Man
haitian modified guarantee swung into
line with the other local fractions.
American Locomotive continued it's
steady but slow advance