Business & Finance: Stock Market

Boom, boom—boom, boom, boom. To the noise of that word marched the stocks of the N. Y. Stock Exchange last week. Up the narrow white street of the tape they paraded, left foot, right foot; point after point, up went steels, up went rails, up went sterling. On Saturday, a record was reached. The trading done on that day was only once exceeded in the history of the Exchange —on a Saturday, and that once in panic-time—the silver panic of 1906. It was not until 20 minutes after twelve noon, normal closing time, that the demented ticker, chattering, jabbering, scribbled the word “Close,” marking the end of the day’s operations, of a week of nationwide buying.

Why this beating of the big bass-drum, this circus-holiday? How came the staid Exchange to lend all three rings to the revels, the gambles, of a performing bulls? For three reasons, “men said: The election of President Coolidge; the accompanying assurance that under his administration no legislation would be directed against the railroads ; the fact that Great Britain put off the corduroys of Socialism for the suave dinner-jacket of a Conservative ministry. These were the occurrences that made small investors fish stuffed stockings from behind stoves and rush to the curb with their coin; that made big investors say to their brokers, “Buy!” between every puff of their long black cigars. Those who outlined these reasons pointed most of all to the first one. Drum-major in the band from whom the swaggering racket swelled, they said, was a skinny man from Vermont, and the big bass drum he so dourly thumped was called Prosperity.

Brokerage houses reported that individuals who had not invested a penny since the War, waiting for sound financial conditions, were now telegraphing their orders. Grizzled traders asserted that the Exchange was in the grip of an oldfashioned, bull railroad market such as has not been dreamt of for years. Big pools made profits. Many, stocks reached new high records for the year, among them: Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; General Asphalt preferred ; New York, Lackawanna and Western ; Packard preferred ; Pennsylvania R. R.

Evidently the stock market expected President Coolidge’s reelection, and more or less “discounted” it last August. But it apparently failed to anticipate the landslide which promised to strengthen his hold on Congress, or the smashing defeat dealt the radicals. Including “odd lots” (transactions for less than 100 shares), considerably over 2,000,000 shares of stock a day were sold on the New York Stock Exchange for several days in succession, in the heaviest trading seen in several years.