Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-25
RALLY IN STOCKS
ENDS ERRAT|C DAY
Shorts Scramble to Cover,
Fearing Punishment for
Raiding Tactics.
BY GEORGE t. HUGHES.
snecial nisnatch to The star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, September 25.-It has
been many years since the Stock Ex-
change witnessed so many ana SO RAPID
changes of price trends as 1t did today.
There have been sessions where the
swings were wider, the trading more
excited, but few in which the alter
nations came in such quick succession.
In the last hour the buying obtained
the upper hand and the market closed
substantially higher. There was heavy
covering, stimulated by the attitude
taken by the exchange authorities
toward short selling, and there was
certain amount of new buying. But
before all this, the industrial averages
had broken through the lows OF yes,
terday and many important stocks had
made new lows for the bear market;
The afternoon improvement followed
reports of a banking conference at the
office of J. P. Morgan & Co., as 10 the
purpose of which, however, no informa-
ton was available.
An erroneous report of a failure In
Paris upset the market during the
morning, but that was only one OF the
rumors, most of them relating TO the
foreign situation, which affected prices.
AS q matter of fact, traders were all
at sea with regard to the ultimate ef-
feet of the break in sterling on prices
of stocks and of commodities. The ex-
changes themselves were upset, STERLING
being quoted at the opening mere at
S345, against the previous close OF
1881, but by the late afternoon almost
all the loss had been recovered.
At times the ticker was unable TO
keep up with business on the floor, and
then again it came almost to a stand
/ still.
The street was frankly bewildered at
the turn of events before the opening.
The complete absence OF any sign OF
support at the close of the preceding
day prepared it for further decline
today. However, for the first hour
prices were relative steady, with more
gains than losses. 1t was not until
nearly noon that the selling became
urgent.
It was again the utilities on which
liquidation bore the hardest. North
American, which was so weak Thurs
day, made another new low and new
lows were recorded for American Water
Works, Pacific Gas & Electric, Stand
ard Gas g. Electric and Consolidated
Gas.
High priced industrials lost ground
easily. Coca-Cola dropped 5 points to
new low for the bear market. East
man kodak opened down sharply, like
wise at new low. For a time, Amer
lean Telephone g. Telegraph was in
demand for the short interest and was
UP 3 or 4 points, but before the day
was half over it also was in new low
ground for the bear market. Other
stocks to benefit from the early short
covering included United States Steel,
General Motors, and most of the rails,
but this improvement was Cancelled in
the later weakness.
hat xuI1
was no official announcement, the gov
ernors of the exchange we're frowning
on short selling. Today'S weakness
seemed to come as much from liqui-
dation, presumably for foreign account,
as it did for operations for the decline
The acute weakness in Sterling, which
before the opening of the Stock Ex-
change was quoted at $3.45 here, was
disturbing to confidence, although it
represented nothing more than the
markets attempt to find a basis where
the pound could be stabilized.