Evening star., 1949-03-27
Stocks Stay in Rut,
Only 240,000 Traded
In Short Session
by the Assoeiotsd Press

NEW YORK, Mar. 26.-The
stock market had little to show
from price viewpoint-for its
work this week.
The general level ofsprices, as
measured by the Associated Press
average of so stocks, closed today
just about where it did last Sat-
urday. To be exact. the average
was 10 cents a share higher.
Demand today was highly selec-
tive and in just enough volume to
keep the market on an even keel.
Rails did fairly we'll, along
with motion, picture, aircraft
manufacturing and merchandising
groups. Gains ranged to around
a point although the great ma
jority Of changes were in frac-
tions and small ones at that.
Advances were scored by Mont
somery Ward. Woolworth, Douglas
Aircraft. Lockheed. Glenn Martin.
Paramount Pictures. Twentieth
Century Fox, Warner Bros. North
ern Pacific, New York Central,
Pennsylvania Railroad and Inter-
national Paper.
Business was slow even for the
short Saturday session. Turn
over amounted to only 100000
shares, low since October 9 last
when turnover totaled 10000
shares. Just 587 individual issues
were traded.
Average Is Unchanged.
The Associated Press average of
so stocks remained at 63.3.
Wednesday was the only day
this week the market put on any
kind Of a show. The price level
took one of the largest forward
strides Of the year and trading
activity increased. News de-
velopments offered nothing spec
tacular to account for the sudden
increase in buying although rs
cent Pennsylvania Railroad divi-
dend and a higher disbursement
for Emerson Radio gave slightly
rosy tinge to trading views.
Buying power was maintained
through part of Thursday but soon
faded away.
Brokerage houses. trying to
whip up a little confidence. found
q favorable angle to one market
pattern which they liked least:
The small volume of business when
prices tended lower. A broker
makes a good part of his living
from the commissions he receives
for selling and buying securities.
Selling Remains Light.
Transactions on two days, when
prices we're rising. approached the
900, ,o00- share mark but on Mon
day only 100000 shares changed
hands and on Friday 100000.
This strongly indicated that no
heavy selling pressure is hanging
over the market and that prices
are responsive to only slight
increase in demand.
Market Strategists - at least
those with an optimistic tempera-
ment-figure that the market is
going through a period of con-
solidation and probably establish
ing a base for a sustained upward
movement. Stock has been NOV
ing from small investors into
stronger hands. considerable
amount of switching from one
stock to another has been going
on, and traders generally have
been Strengthening out and
strengthening their positions.
Further evidence that something
might be cooking in Wall Street
was the increased sensitivity of
certain stocks to specific news afv
fecting them. The quick response
to the Pennsylvania Railroad divi-
dend was a case in point.
Basis Seen for Advance.
Basically, the reasoning behind
the theory that the groundwork is
being laid for an advance is the
belief that the market already has
discounted a fair to middling
sized showdown in business ac-
tivity. A full-sized depression, of
course, would knock this theory
out of the window. But Wall