Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-01
CURB EXCHANGE ESTABLISHES
NEW RECORDS IN 1929 TRADING
Surpasses All Marks by Dealing in 1,151,-
900 Shares of Cities Service
Stock.

bleS & wireless, Ltd. the British gov
eminent combination of cables and
wireless companies: Marine Midland
Corporation, the largest bank holding
company; United States Lines. Inc,
operators of the largest American pas
senger fleet; Pennroad Corporation, the
security holding company of the Penn
sylvania Railroad; Rudolph Guenther-
Russell Law, Inc the first advertising
firm TO be listed here; more Goldman
Sachs trading companies, such as Blue
Ridge q Shenandoah, and several dis
tillery stocks.
1900 Issues Pay Dividends.
Although the huge volume of new
issues greatly increased the number of
securities traded in-at the beginning
Of 1929 they Appropriated 1,745 stocks.
$50 domestic bonds and $50 foreign
bonds as against $3.50 stocks, $50 do
nestle bonds and $50 foreign bonds at
the close of the year-it did not lower
the caliber of the list. About 1900
issues were In the dividend-p paying class
at the start of 1929. and around 1900
were in that division at the end of the
year. The exchange broke all Of its
previous records on June "a, when l25
stocks sold ex-dividend. Penny" stocks
COR shares selling at less than 81, which
years ago formed the bulk OF Curb
transactions. now number 20, against
IS a year ago.
The wisdom Of more exacting listing
requirements was proved by the Curb'S
recognition by numerous blue sky"
State commissions and its approval
after two-year ct-finding inquiry
by the committee OF investigation Of
stock exchanges Of the National ASso-
citation OF Security Commissioners.
These moves were followed by extern.
sion of Curb ticker service from 40
cities year ago to 100 cities, including
two in Canada, at Montreal and To-
ronto. during 1929. Tickers now ex-
coed 5000 in number. or a gain Of more
than 1000 during the last year.
The Speculative Leaders.
Public utilities. investment trusts and
trading companies were the outstand-
ing speculative leaders, both in point
Of activity and appreciation. A boom
in natural gas stocks, following the
great expansion Of that industry, was
Debated by the Autumn crash. Trusts
and trading companies were battered
and bruised by the waves of selling, and
aviation shares registered both plane
overproduction and the revision Of mail
rates. Radios were not as popular as
in 1928.
Passing the OFallon decision with
out q glance. because the Curb has
relatively few rails, the market recorded
the BENEFITS OF red metal high prices in
Its copper shares, and later the uncer-
tainty OF maintaining such q price level.
The oils again failed to flare up, despite
good earnings and dividends, because
Of the overproduction of petroleum.
These shares, however, were relatively
firm during the Autumn break.
Records for speedy price appreciation
were made by such issues as Croker
Wheeler Electric Manufacturing Co.,
which rose from 1871 to 843 before
being split 10 for last September. and
National Investors Corporation, which
in five months leaped from 11H to
1919 before being split for in
October.
Wide Price Ranges.
Numerous issues showed ranges of
200 points or more. Tubize Artificial
Silk, for instance. had O range of 439
points, and Aluminium Company OF
America 293l2 points, but both of these
issues are rather closely held. This
same comment might be applied with
equal fitness to the 332-point range of
Of Gulf Oil Of Pennsylvania.
The utilities, as a group, provided
the widest fluctuations. Common
wealth Edison, for example, had a range
OF 23912 points, while American Light
and Traction and Duke Power registered
ranges Of 200 and 2041a points, respec-
lively. Ford Motors of Canada moved
between is and 6sH, and Newmont
Mining between 80 and 236, and even
an ~ 20
moved more than So points.
Investment trusts, aside from utilities,
registered the sharpest swings. Gold
man Sachs from its high early In the
year of 1914 tumbled to q low Of 80
during November. insult Utilities In
vestment dropped from 100 to IS before
rallying and Mayflower Associated from
1919 to 46h.
Long before the signal was given for
change to the New york Stock Ex-
change. the trading public-not the gen.
eral public-accumulated the issue, and
their short-turn profits with few
weeks previous to such transfers usually
were greater than the market profits
their short-turn profits within q few
months after the transfer had been
completed. Whether such wide short
swing profits will continue to be the
rule in the present market remains to
be seen.
Two Special Incidents.
Two interesting moves occurred on the
market during the year. Violent fluc-
tuationS took place in Ford Motor of
Canada "A" shares both before and
after the twenty-for-on split. Many
traders bought the "A" stock believing
1t q good delivery against the "B"
shares because they did not know the
Curb listing rules banned non-voting
issues. The Curb, unlike the New York
Stock Exchange, reversed It's ruling on
non-Voting stocks and admitted Ford
Motor Of Canada "B" which, however,
never has been very popular market
wise.
A technical situation arose in Marconi
International Marine, as q result of
which 1t ran up from z to 373a before
crashing. The trading public was hurt
In these special situations, whereas it
was the general public that suffered in
the Bancitaly and Canadian Marconi
crashes Of 1928.
Accompanying these various trading,
listing and market records and their
consequent commissions, the price of
Curb Exchange membership was bid up
from $4,000 to &254,00o, the highest
on record, which was reached Septem-
Der "a. Following the general market
decline. which was marred by three
minor Curb failures and the insolvency
OF an associate member, the price Of
membership hit $4,000, but they have
partially recovered.
More Diversified Listings.
The Curb Exchange, like other ex-
changes, during 1890 win rally trreg-