Evening star., 1937-10-24
MARKET SLUMPS;
STEEL, RAILS OFF
Brisk Selling Sweeps Away
Much of Weeks Re-
C0Eery.
~ Ne Associated Press.

~ to& AS60clhteo FIesss
NEW YORK, October ga brisk
backwash of selling in the stock mar
ket today swept away much OF the
recovery from the low levels reached
In Tuesdays huge wave OF liquidation.
Shares of steel companies and rail-
roads, particularly, were pressed for
sale and taken only at sharply lower
prices. AS the closing gong echoed
through the barnlike trading hall Of
the exchange, declines of 81 to $40
were numerous.
This brought to close the most
strenuous and disturbing week Wall
Street had experienced since the spec
tacular uprush of prices in the first
few months Of the New Deal ended
with precipitant slump in July, 1888.
Price averages ended the week
again back in the area in which they
f1uctuated from the Summer of 1888
until we'll along into 1885, leaving in
vestors and analysts struggling for ex-
plantations as to what had happened
to sweeping advances of the last two
years.
Today's setback did not take Wall
Street altogether by surprise, as err
ratio fluctuations would be in keeping
with past experience after such a
selling wave as that which came to
a climax with the 7,oo0,0 ,000-share
turnover on Tuesday.
Reports Scanned Eagerly.
Yet the weeks business reports were
scanned anxiously for evidence as to
whether the stock market was fore
shadowing an important interruption
to the course of recovery, or giving
way to some internal weakness, or
possibly a combination of both.
The selling in rails and steels, brok-
ers said, was due to fairly obvious
reasons. The Interstate Commerce
Commission announcement of the
granting of freight rate increases ex-
pected to increase rail revenues by
some S47500,o00 annually met with a
disappointing market, when calcula-
tions indicated this would not offset
higher wage and other operating costs
which most of the roads have encoun-
tered.
Steels we're sent tumhling by week
end reports that several mills would
curtail production further next week,
on top of the drastic curtailment
Of operating schedules that has al
ready taken place since August.
Shares of United States Steel
dropped to a new low for the year at
q price of $3.50, and ended the two
hour Saturday trading session at
S5337, loss for the day Of s4.25.
Early this year the shares of the big
steel maker commanded price as
high as s126.50.
Encouraging Aspects.
Most encouraging aspects of the
outlook, as Wall Street inspected the
week end business news, we're reports
of brisk retail trade over the country
the past week, in most areas sub
stantially above year ago.
Also, while such manufacturing
lines as steel and textiles, and build
ing operations, we're well under last
year at this time, it was noted the
motor makers went forward with
large-scale production of 1888 mod
els, Detroit estimates showing 9l.-
905 cars and trucks made the past
week, compared with only 64.3lo In
the same week of 1885.
One of the reasons advanced for
the slump in the securities markets
by Wall Street experts has been the
cooling of the iA3ation sentiment so
rampant a year ago, partly by cut
ting down the Federal pump -prin-
ing" expenditures. Some see business
now in a sort of transition phase be-
tween moving forward under the
stimulation of expenditure of Federal
funds and going il alone.