Evening star., 1933-11-22
SELL OFF
SLIGHTLY AT CLOSE
Prices Ease in Final Hour
After General FirmneSs
Through Day.
BY GEORGE T. HUGHES.

special DlSpaLCn 10 Inc Stdr-
NEW YORK. November 22.-Easin2
in the last hour. stocks closed a shade
lower today after session Of gen.
eral flrmneSs
The net changes were too small
be of significance and there was n
weakness except for a time in the al
cohol stocks. Activity was greater Oh
the rallies than on the reactions.
The only place where there was
definite response to the Sprague lette
of resignation was in the Governmer
bond market, where prices continue T.
decline. Commodities were irregula
despite the infiationary implications il
the news Wheat closed as to ! y cent
buShel lower and all the other grain
we're down fractionally. Most of tn
day silver and rubber we're higher
but cotton made no progress and sugf
was practically unchanged.
Nash Motors was feature Of streng
in the late trading IN stocks.
Opening Irregular.
Stocks opened quietly and irreg
larly For the first hour there we're
many declines as advances. but aft
that a slow upward movement was Re-
sumed 1t was something Of shoe
TO reao the plain-spoken statement Ci
the resigning economic adviser 10 the
Treasury and it made for timidity on
the part of stock traders to see the ef-
feet on Government bonds. There wa
no rush to accumulate equities as
hedge against the predicted currency
imitation After an nCur or so Of re-
Election. however. the market took cou-
rage and began 10 rise.
The Government price for domestic
gold was unchanged today at S33.76.
which may have been due TO the Sprague
letter and a desire TO check the decline
in Government bonds That, however
is only conjecture. as no official in
formation was available. In London the
price of gold dropped again to 12G
ShilllngS 6 pence and the pound i'm
proved against the franc. Sterling ex-
change opened on this side at SIS "A.
up 112 cents, but it quickly lost that
gain and at noon was selling below
Tuesdays close. Francs opened at
$50 cents, up a point, and then they
too reacted
Business News Favorable.
The indllstrials were the leaders in
the early trading in stocks today. Du
Pont crossing $50 a share was at the
highest Of the year. The gold stocks
were irregular. Homestake was down
II points on the first sale, but the
hardened International Nickel was
strong at its old high. taken in large
blocks American Smelling and United
States Smelling advanced more or less.
Among the weak spots were the
liquor shares in which the fear of
excessive taxation was the controlling
influence. Borden was in supply and
lost a point. Merchandising stocks
were steady but that was all.
The market was disappointed over
the lower opening quotations for wheat.
Eventually that was disregarded, per-
haps on the theory that failure OF
grains to respond TO the efforts to raise
the price level only made more certain
other infiationary measures. While
street sentiment favored the buying
side in stocks. the atmosphere was not
cheerful one.
couraging. The Iron Age reported the
ably" Electric output was up Sc per
cent for the week Last week it gained
6.3 per cent. Car loadings made a
good showing.
The afternoon market was quiet and
firm Oil stocks, which had been
heavy in the morning on the increase
in output reported in the weekly sta
tistics, recovered. Motor shares were
more prominent, with Mack Truck and
Nash the leaders Weakness in Allied
Chemical preferred conceded with
higher prices for the common. The
textile stocks were very strong. with
advances in Celanese and Industrial
Rayon.
(Conyrigbt 1o33O