By Courtesy of Swan, Culbertson & Fritz ders on the stock exchange today were discouraged by adverse business reports, and were particularly perturbed by the statement of Mr. Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury, to the effect that business conditions were getting progressively worse since November last and also that he saw no signs of the recession having touched bottom. General Motors' earnings presented a poor showing. This week saw the forty-fourth consecu~ tive weekly decline in bank clearings compared with last year. Building operations have dropped, while Sears Roebuck sales have also declined. Traders showed some anxiety over the Bethlehem Steel report which was published after the close of the market.
By courtesy of Swan, Culbertson & Fritz Stock prices on the New York market have fluctuated irregularly during the past week and though industrials lost appreciably, rails and utilities showed little net change. A Sagging tendency was evident on Monday and Tuesday but the first quarter report of the' US. Steel Corporation, published after the.close of trading on the latter day, was better than expected and this, together with the payment of the regular dividend on the Corporation's preferred stock, caused a mild rally on Wednesday. Traders were not disposed to follow up the advance and prices on Thursday suffered their severest break of the month. The daily turnovers were rather small and for four successive sessions averaged around 450,000 shares, indicating that the easiness was due more to caution on the part of buyers than to any wide-spread desire. to sell.
The Administration's spending proposals are losing their effect so far as the commodity markets are concerned, and May liquidation tended to depress prices generally. Cotton eased on further mill curtailment and wheat declined on beneficial rains and prospects of a large crop which more than offset the reported black rust damage. Corn was entirely featureless. Rubber broke sharply on Monday and Tuesday as a result of nervous selling and the trade appeared as a buyer only on declines, Sugar recovered some of its earlier losses when the world conference went on record as favoring a 5 per cent, reduction in quotas.
Business news was inconclusive though sentiment was depressed by Secretary of the Treasury Morgen-than's admission that business conditions have been getting progressively worse since November and that he saw no signs of the recession having touched bottom. The quarterly report of the U.S. Steel Corporation, which is always carefully studied by Wall Street, revealed a loss of $1,292,- 000, and though this is the first deficit for the initial three months of any year since 1935, and is a sharp contrast to the profit of $28,561,533 for the first three months of 1937, it was much better than the anticipated loss of from $5—10,000,000.
The Market in figures:
Thursday Apr. 21 Apr. 28 Change .-J. Average for
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