Evening star., 1934-04-15
Still More Drastic SIaSheS in
Expenses Due if Dull
ness Persists.
SIGNS POINT TO COMING
SPECULATION REVIVAL
Slow Market Advance Despite
Lull Indicates Buying on In
vestment Basis.
BY GEORGE T. HUGHES.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, April 14-To the
trader, the feature of the stock mar
ket is the narrow range of fluctua-
tionS. to the broker, the whole story
is the small turnover.
1t has been estimated that the
average stock exchange house can
just about break even on a 100000
share day with it's present overhead.
There was not a single 100000
share day in all of March, nor has
there been one so far this month.
Expenses have been cut, and are like
ly to be cut still further, if the in
activity continues.
There have been sessions during
which it would have been impossible
for day-to-day trader to make a
profit if he had bought at the low
and sold at the high. Taxes and
commissions would have been larger
than the differences in price
The trader who buys at the low
and sells at the high has still TO ap-
pear in Wall Street.
The curious thing about this dull
market, however, is that it has been
advancing. not declining The traders
have had no part in bringing
about this recovery. 1t suggests that
the buying has been for account of
those who wished to own the stocks
bought, and not to advance the price
so that they might sell to some one
else at a profit. If so. the inference
is that speculative activity will follow
in due course. 1t always has.
Trust Shifts Cited.
1t is often interesting to analyze
changes in the holdings of the larger
investment trusts. While as a rule no
light is thrown on future policy, the
shifts do sometimes explain what has
been happening in the market and
they always reveal the opinion of
those in control of the trusts affairs.
The Tri-Continental Corporation
and its affiliate, Selected Industries,
have just made reports of their pur-
chaSes and sales for the first quarter
of the current year. The president
of the Tri-Continental says it has
been reducing its holdings of common
stocks and reinvesting the proceeds
for the most part in United States
Government securities. Evidently in
fiation fears did not influence the
Judgment of this investor.
The list of changes shows, among
railroad stocks, nothing but sales. In
the utility group holdings of Electric
Bond g. Share were increased, whereas
the other shifts were toward smaller
representation. Among industrials the
amount OF stock held as of March 81.
compared with December 81, 1888. was
larger for American Commercial AL
cohol, Continental Can, Homestake
Mining, Loew's, Mcintyre Porcupine,
Montgomery Ward. Noranda, Phillips
Petroleum, Sears, Roebuck; Sherwin-
Williams, United States Smelling and
western Auto Supply. In all other
cases, INC change was a decrease.
Rail Holdings Reduced.
Selected Industries. when it made
any change at all, reduced its hold
lngs OF all railroad stocks except Mis-
Texas. It cut down its
interest iii utilities except in the case
OF Niagara Hudson Power and North
American Co. Among industrials the
changes were all decreases except for
Commercial Alcohol Cen
eral Refractories, Homestake Mining,
kelvinator. Loew's, Sears, Roebuck:
Sherwin- Williams and United States
Smelling
The proportion of brokers' hold
ings of United States Steel common
increased curing the first quarter of
1884 and that of investors decreased.
The same is true of steel preferred.
In other words, the floating supply
of both issues was larger on March
81, than it was on December 81, 1888.
All this follows precedent. Small
investors buy steel when the price is
down and sell it on the advance.
If spectators could only be sure that
they could do that, too, their worries
would be over.
1t is significant, however, that while
this process has been going on here,
British interests have been increas-
ing their holdings on Steel common.
In the first three months of 1884, the
of shares of the junior stock
held in Great Britain increased 3786
per cent.
Copyright 1894. by the North American
NeWSpaDer Alliance. 1nc)