Evening star., 1927-03-28
PRICES co SOARING
IN STOCK MARKET
Melons Optimistic State
ment Seems Major Influence
on Trading Today.
BY GEORGE T. HUGHES.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. March 2S.-The stool
market started in today under the in
fluence of a flood of week end buying
orders which carried prices for thu
leaders practically without exception
into new high ground. Probably th'
major Influence was still the opti
misttc statement by the Secretary o.
the Treasury given out on Saturday
and particularly his reference to The
satisfactory state OF brokers loans.
It was the increase in these loans
last week which brought about q
Eesitant attitude toward the market
Then, too, further consideration o1
confidence expressed by the leaders
in the motor car trade was stimulating
to speculative imagination.
New Highs Set.
The result was that before the ses-
sion was half over General Motors
had established a new high for the
year. United States Steel had sold
higher than at any time in its his
tory, American Telephone and Tele-
graph went beyond anything of record
since 1903 and Delaware & Hudson
bad surpassed any price made since
1909, while Baltimore & Ohio had
come within a fraction of its 1927
peak. There were numerous other
new records, but these. were the most
prominent. ...
The railroad shares were more uni
formly in favor than the industrials
and among the rails it was the high
priced, dividend-paying issues that
assumed leadership. Delaware & Hud-
son. up between four and five points,
was an outstanding feature. 1t was
- @IaE = h. to- nntS snI
on comparatively small turnover.
Evidently there was not much stock
for sale around current levels. The
report persists that stockholders will
receive, sooner or later, a share in
transportation company and a share
in coal company for their present
holdings. Delaware & Hudson, too,
is one of the few large prosperous sys-
TENS that have not raised their divi-
dend in recent years. The present
per cent rate has been paid without
change for 20 years and earnings now
are more than twice requirements.
Primarily Investment Buying. :
Buying in the other rails such as
Atchison, Union Pacific and New York
Central again was primarily of an in
vestment nature. There was a specific
reason for the strength in Baltimore
& Ohio, and that was the expectation
Of higher dividend which earnings
justify. AS the activity fell off in the
dividend paying rails, attention turned
to the lower priced issues. In this
group Wabash. Missouri Pacific and
New Haven were the most prominent.
The strength in General Motors.
buying of which was on large scale
even for this stock, was communicate
ed to the other motor shares only in
moderate degree. Wiilys-Overland was
strong for a time, notwithstanding the
1926 report. Estimates Of the first
quarters earnings this year were
highly favorable, and the stock was
bought on the present outlook. Hud-
son and Studebaker were higher fdH
time, but all the gain was not held.
Prices for the shares of some of the
other independents showed that all
the doubt about the expected competi-
ton had not been dissipated. OF the
advance in United States Steel and
in American Telephone & Telegraph
it Is only necessary to say that the
overflow of funds from the bond mar
ket is going into this class of stocks.