Evening star., 1930-06-28

13, when 1854, ,40C Cities Service rights
| changed hands on a cash basis. The
previous record also made on the Curb,
was 1,151,900 Cities Service common 4.
shares, en- October "a, 1929.
The biggest initial transaction on any
| exchange occurred on June IA, when
| 250000 Cities Service rights appeared
| on the tape. This compared with the
previous opening record of 225,000
Cities Service common shares. on Mo-
vember 4. 1929. The cash involved in
| these rights transactions was incons
| sequential. w
Curb Tops Big Board Again.
The Curb, for the second time In It'd
history, outdistanced Stock Exchange
dealing on June IA, when tradings
including the l,1e6,300 Cities Serve
ice units, totaled 1,157,S00 shares,
the Curb passed tho "big board" in
volume through handling 1,032,400
shares of Commonwealth & Southern
| Corporation.
Establishment of a call money mar
ket on the exchange floor on April 2S
made 1t easier to put up Curb securities
| for collateral and widened potential
margin purchases o: such issues. Conn
menting on this important development,
President William S Muller Of the Curb
Exchange, in response to questions gave
| the following statement to this writer::+
"Since the establishment OF the
money desk, money conditions have
been easy, and for that reason our loan
market may not have received fair
test. Nevertheless, since the first day,
when 100000 was offered by the
banks on Curb collateral, there has been
a steady stream of money available to
borrowers. About 9S per cent Of the
banks and trust companies now are COS
| operating with the exchange, and al-
| though only ST. 900 900 is being borrowed
daily, this amount will be increased
vastly when activity is resumed
THE money desk is now taking care
| of only 25 per cent Of the loans made
| fer all Curb brokers, aid, although We
do not expect that our call money mar-
ket will revolutionize Immediately the
old method of doing business with banks
| ing houses, We feel that many OF our
members who are desirous of continuing
| their private banking arrangements
eventually will borrow at the desk
Banks Accept 500 Curb Stocks.
"There are 1450 dividend-payina
stocks traded in on the Curb. About
600 of these have been approved a
satisfactory collateral for bank loans
| However, in time the money-loaning
function on the Curb floor should b
almost as complete as is the organized
call money market on the Stock Ext
change. We still maintain diherens
tial of per cent above the quoted
rate on the Stock Exchange, but 1t Il
debatable question whether this dif-
ferential will be maintained as the cal
money market continues to grow
| The erection Of the new 14-Story adj
dition to the present Curb Building 4
now well under way, and the Curl
ticker service was extended to 10 ini4
| askf ,..tNa AL
bringing the number of major areat
served to ITO.
! If the 1929 market could be likened ID
ship speeding through calm waters
or buffeted by squalls, storms and sea-
quakes, the early Summer inactive mar4
ket might with equal accuracy be lik.
ened to "a painted ship on a painted
| ocean," The largest 1880 session I'd
date, on May 5, totaled only 2540, 400
shares, which compares with 7096,30q
on october 20, 1929, and 3,046 400 shares
| on November %, 1928, largest sessions
in their respective years.
Diminutives rather than superlativef
portray trading volume this year. The
| smallest session, on January 22 regis+
tered only 100000 shares This com,
pares with 820,700 shares on April 8
| 1929, and 222,366 shares on July so
1928, the slowest days of those years.
AHC NUuESE Ut bnC INAdTkCts
Opening the year nearly 20 per cent
above the extreme lows of the previous
November, Curb stock prices selectively
moved upward until mid-April whe1
they halted, hesitated for 10 days, and
then plunged to low levels, from which
they staggered during most of May
only to tumble again early in June.
Then in the third week Of June cama
the worst break of the year. One of the
At-a-
ment was on June Is, when out of 60e
issues traded in 458 showed net declines
for the day and so net gains, while 10e
were unchanged. In this session 20(
new low prices for the year or Longer
were recorded. Unlike the May break
however, volume in the mid-June slump
slackened as prices declined.
The six most active Curb stocks, In
order named, were Electric Bond a
Share, Cities Service, Niagara Hudson
Power, American Superpower, United
Gas Corporation new and Transamerics
Corporation.
Popularity of utilities, oils and natural
gas shares, in view of industrial devel,
opments, occasioned no surprise, buI
buying of Transamerica reflected de,
mand for that particular stock rather
than that type of security.
Federal Trade Commission inveStigai
tions several times chilled the markets
ardor for utilities, but mergers and
prospective combinations, along with in-
creased production and earnings, ever
though not as large proportionately n
In recent years, Offset the influence OF
official inquiries.
Petroleum securities always haU
hulked large on the Curb, where mo0l
Of the Standard Oil issues are listed
Dividend disbursements on Standard
Oil shares totaling Sl35, ,375 o5e, aRaina
1929, l55, ,090 in the first half of 1929
established new high record. Favor,
able oil dividend actions resulted from
complete cooperation in crude oil cur,
tailment, the big expansion of the nat
ural gas industry and the amazing gaso.
line consumption.
Gas Shares New Leaders.
Natural gas shares, as dominant In
this years new security turnover aj
were investment trust, airplane and ra1
dio issues, respectively, in the thret
preceding first half-year periods, prom
Use to be speculative leaders in the coma
ing six months. The natural gas In
dustry has fired the speculative innaEi,
nation. Creation of the biggest nat
ural gas company in the world-tha
United Gas rporation-stimulateC
merger negotiations. Demand for nat.
ural gas, either pure or mixed with
artificial gas, has caused pipeline con,
structfon on scale never before witt
messed. Oil concerns. noting this insis.
tent natural gas demand, now plan hugl
pipeline systems to carry fuel oil u
industrial centers. Mild Winter weathe1
adversely affected natural gas profits.
(copyriSht, ls3Ol -