Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-08-06
ADVANCE IN STOCKS
SETS NEW RECORD
Only Once This Year Has
Market Showed Such ViO-
lent Upward Changes.
BY GEORGE t. HUGHES.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, August 6-Only once
before this year has there been as active
a stock market and as violent an adj
vance as took place in today's two
hour session.
In mid-February there was a sharp
recovery on the passage Of the Glass
Steagall bill, but otherwise tcday's
sweeping upward movement set q
record for 1882.
Gains in the active issues ran all
the way from to Is points and while
there was some slight reaction at the
close, the market left of in new high
ground for the year. It was a dis
aStrouS day for the shorts. For that
matter, the markets buoyancy amazed
its friends.
The ticker fell minutes behind in
the last half hour. Volume was over
100000 shares. At that rate a full
t1ve-nour day would have seen over
100000 shares bought and sold. A
better comparison, perhaps, is the fact
that today's turnover in hours was
as great as yesterdays in hours. All
OF this came after four weeks of ris-
ing prices.
Among the days features, the Spec
tacular rise in United States Steel nre.
ferred was easily the most sensational.
The stock closed yesterday at 743L and
the last sale today was 81, up 1874
points.
After the close it was announced
tnat as OF August l the outstanding
snort interest had increased 1876
shares as compared with July 1. The
total, according to the official Stock
Exchange figures, was 2,13l ,783 shares
on July l, and 2,181 ,599 on August /,
1t Is safe guess that this total was
sharply reduced today.
Commodities went up with stocks, the
one reacting on the other. Wheat was
up over points in Chicago. and a
good deal of the buying in the share
list was predicated on the improvement
IN the grains. Cotton had a sharp rise
and silk was strong.
NO new reasons were given for the
strength in stocks. Conservative OBJ
servers believed that the market had
outrun any probable improvement In
business or even any prospective bet
terment in commodities, but there was
no denying the mood of the moment.
Perhaps the best defense that could be
made was that even at today's best
prices sotckS were still extremely low,
regardless of their immediate earning
power
Features were numerous First there
was american Telephone q Telegraph,
a stock with large short interest. On
July II the stock sold fractionalIy
above $40 share. One sale for future
delivery was made fractionally under
that price. Today, less than q month
later, it was more than IS points high
er. The openi'sS sale was 103. a new
high on the recovery, and that gain
was increased as the session went on.
Then Eastman Kodak gave q spectac-
ular performance. This was another
stock as to the future of which pessi-
mlsm was rampant less than a month
ago. It jumped over points today as
the shorts were driven to cover. More
impressive probably was the rise in U.
S. Steel preferred. In the face of the
warning by Chairman Taylcr after the
last dividend meeting that further dis
bursements must depend on business
improvement, the stock has been going
up ever since, at first slowly and TO-DAY
violently. Around 81 it was up over
IL points on the day and almost 81
points above the low