Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-20
MARKET RALLIES
AND REACTS FAST
Price Changes Come Quickly
Without Any Well Estab-
Iished Trend.
By GEORGE T. HUGHES.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, May 20.-Rally and re-
action followed each other in close sue
cession in todays stock market. with no
well established trend. The market
was not really weak. even when it was
selling of, and 1t was most active on
the recovery. But that was the best
that could be said
There was not much encouragement
in the news. Car loadingS were of IT,
842 cars on the week. contrary to the
seasonal trend, and more April earn
ings statements coming to hand made
the usual dismal comparison with the
same month year ago grain OF
comfort was derived from reports OF
roads operating in the Southwest, which
did show some gain in traffic, and the
Street heard more about plans for OBJ
tanning q rate increase. but the general
situation remained unchanged.
The weekly reviews OF the iron and
steel trade were about as had been pre-
dicted. For the industry as a whole
operations were said to be down to As
per cent of capacity, against Al per cent
a week ago. The Steel Corporation was
reported as operating at higher rate
than the independents. A cut Of IS
cents q barrel in cement prices empha-
sized the difficult situation in that bust
ness. On the other hand, cotton re-
covered q dollar g bale after its long
decline.
Short covering was responsible for
most of the improvement during the
morning hours. 1t was most emphatic
in the railroad shares. Union Pacific
at one time was up more than 4
points, Notwithstanding the very large
decrease in net operating income in
the April statement. PENNSYLVANIA,
Northern Pacific, Chesapeake & Ohio
and AtchiSon. with others, all gained
from 3 to 4 points, but did not hold
the advance.
Next TO the rails the utilities came
back the easiest. Public Service of
New Jersey, rejecting its remarkably
good April report, with substantial in
creaSes in both gross and net, ran up
points before meeting realizing. Con-
solidated Gas and Standard Gas were
strong Two exceptions TO the trend
were Western Union, which was weak.
and American Water Works at q new
low.
Industrials moved with great irreg-
ularity. Eastman Kodak and Westing-
house were under pressure, the former
going to a new low. General Motors
was well supported, but Chrysler sag
ged. The latter's excellent financial
condition, revealed in the balance sheet,
was not @ SUFFICIENT offset to the OPP
Grating loss reported for the first quar-
ter. Both United States Steel and
American Can came back to par and
then retreated again.
(Copyrisht, 1872
The afternoon market was unsettled
by q vicious drive against American
Telephone g. Telegraph. The raid was
timed to coincide with the declaration
Of the regular 1925 quarterly dividend
which action, by the way, had never
been seriously doubted In we'll informed
circles. The idea evidently, however,
was to stimulate liquidation elsewhere
in the list, and the plan did have
measure Of success.
Telephone dropped to new low for
the year, off over points on the day
and over points down from the morn
ing top.
almost TO their former low points Cen
eral Motors was offered in large volume
and reacted a point or So Coca Cola
slumped to a new low, Notwithstanding
the good earnings report made only
Monday. These bold tactics, reminiscent
of similar maneuvers at the peak of the
bull market, only in the reverse order,
were suggestive of an approaching turn
in the market.
Throughout the disturbance the rail-
road stocks were notably steady. New
York Central weakened somewhat and
others came down from the best OF the
morning, but losses were small and
volume light.
Copyright, 1917