The Pittsburgh Press (November 3, 1940)
Market Spurts —
STOCKS CLIMB TO BEST LEVEL FOR 5 MONTHS
…
Sales Cross Million-Share Mark in Two Sessions; Business Soars
…
By Elmer C. Walzer, United Press Financial Editor
New York, Nov. 2 –
Stocks advanced ton new highs since mid-May this week in the most active trading since mid-June, while commodities were narrowly mixed, and industrial production rose to a record high.
Transactions on the stock market picked up sharply with sales well above the million-share mark in the Thursday and Friday sessions. Until Thursday there had been no session of a million shares since September 5.
On Monday, the market declined. Then it rose steadily for three sessions with the best gains on Thursday. On Friday, the advance continued for a time in heavy turnover and then the list encountered profit-taking that induced irregularity. The net result for the week and for the month of October was a general gain of small proportions.
Bullish News Spurs Rise
Inspiring the advance, according to Wall Street experts, were the “growing strength of Wendell L. Willkie in the presidential race,” a rise to a record high in production of steel with the leading companies at full capacity, the 12th consecutive weekly rise in auto production, a rise to a new high since October 21, 1939, in carloadings, a record high in electricity output, the third best week of the year in building with construction figures for the year to date better than any full year since 1929, and a series of highly favorable corporation reports and dividend declarations.
Meantime, the injection of Greece into the European war brought a new complication that the market had to contend with early in the week. Resistance to Italian attack offset this as an unfavorable factor and later the market appeared to ignore war news which otherwise was considered not unfavorable since there were no outstanding Axis successes.
Market Behind Industry
Wall Street men said the piling up of good business new found the market behind industry. For some time, the list had been ignoring a steady rise in industrial output to a record high. There had been little selling and finally traders found offerings difficult to find at anything but substantially higher prices. This brought short covering which in turn stimulated new buying by the general public.
Steel issues featured. In this group new highs were made by U.S. Steel and its preferred. Bethlehem, Crucible issues, Inland and Sharon preferred. U.S. Steel reported net income for the September quarter at $3.07 a share, against 47¢ a years ago, while Bethlehem had net income equal to $3.63 a share, against $1.10 a year ago. U.S. Steel was operating at 99% of capacity andf Bethlehem at 103%, the latter using some of the leeway provided for shutdowns to make repairs and replacements. Bethlehem reported a backlog of unfilled orders amounting to more than a billion dollars.
Westinghouse Lifts Income
North American issued a favorable report in the utilities. Standard of New Jersey declared a 25¢ extra which was only half of what had been anticipated and this sent the stock down of Friday.
Demand continued for the issues in the so-called heavy armament group, notably the railroad equipment, where the American Locomotive made a new high. Douglas Aircraft spurted ion its section when the company reported net income for the nine months ended August 31 at $12.15 a share, against $3.97 in the corresponding period in 1939; and declared a dividend of $5 a share.
Westinghouse Electric has a 60% rise in income and a gain of 160% in unfilled orders. Other companies reported progress. Aircraft companies and shipyards continued to run at full capacity. Airline stocks moved up on outlook for increased business. Rails strengthened as carloadings rose and new highs were noted in several of the favorites. Mercantile issues lagged, although retail trade moved higher.
The Associated Press (November 3, 1940)
STOCK EXCHANGES TO CLOSE TUESDAY
Election day, next Tuesday, a legal holiday in most states, will be observed by leading securities and commodity exchanges throughout the United States.
The New York Stock Exchange and securities markets in other cities will be closed.
Among commodity markets generally observing the holiday will be the Chicago Board of Trade, pits ion other grain centers, and the New York and New Orleans Cotton Exchanges.
Livestock markets in Chicago, Jersey City and elsewhere will be open for business.
Canadian and foreign market will conduct their usual trading sessions.
WALL STREET BETTING ODDS FAVOR ROOSEVELT VICTORY
New York, Nov. 2 –
According to Wall Street Commissioners’ quotations on the latest national election odds, Roosevelt backers are offering 6 to 5 and Willkie supporters are asking 8 to 5.
Roger W. Babson Says —
NOV. 5 IS MOST IMPORTANT DAY IN TWO GENERATIONS
…
Result of Presidential Election Will Be Determined by Independent Voters, Economist Holds; Cites Freedom of Americans in Voicing Opinions
…
Rochester, N.Y., Nov. 2 –
The most important day in two generations of American voters comes next Thursday! In the olden times, when a sovereign king opened his mouth, that settled it. No one could challenge his decision. He might make mistakes; he might be stupid, even ignorant’ but he was the “works” and his word was law.
So it is when the American voter casts his ballot. In a crisis such as we are facing today in our national life, what group can we count on when it comes to voting? It seems to me we must count on those independent voters who have the horse-sense that enables them to see through bunk and get to the heart of a crucial issue!
Our democratic ideals imply that the country can always depend on the consensus of judgment of the average man for the wise direction we need in any given situation. The average man does not rate with the so-called intellectual nor with the rich.
He is, however, far more numerous than all the privileged and favored classes put together. At the ballot box he counts accordingly. The well-to-do still count for more than their actual number, because of the influence they exert on those associated with, or dependent upon them, but their influence is waning.
Sometimes Decision is Close
And yet, even when great issues are at stake at the polls, there is often a fairly close decision. It was certainly so on Lincoln’s second election. Furthermore, the slander of that time has never been exceeded unless it was during Washington’s campaigns.
In more recent times, do not forget that Charles Evans Hughes went to bed on election night in 1916, fully convinced he was the country’s next President. He awoke the next morning a defeated man.
In the national election four years ago, notwithstanding the tremendous sweep by states made by the Democratic Party, there were 17,000,000 men and women who voted on the other side. These 17,000,000 Republican voters were by no means from the privileged and intellectual classes.
Among the 27,000,000 voters on the winning side, there was a large proportion of the highly educated and the well-to-do. Included in these millions was also a considerable percentage of the so-called middle class, not exactly intellectuals and certainly not rich.
Party Lines to be Ignored
It would appear that out of the 44,000,000 votes cast for the two major candidates there were 34,000,000 voters who tied each other – one vote for, balancing another vote against. I am considering now the popular vote, not the electoral vote where the ratio made the result seem like a thunderclap of popular opinion.
The 17,000,000 voters who backed Landon do not see it that way. They know that a shift in less than a million votes, some say 300,000, in a number of crucial; states would have given Landon a majority of the electoral votes and put him in the White House. If even in a landslide like four years ago a shift in less than 2.5% of the voters might have changed the final results, what can we expect how where the contest may really be close?
On November 5th, more than ever before, party lines will be ignored by millions. Great numbers of Willkie Democrats have declared themselves, and, as was the case four years ago, there is a flood of Roosevelt Republicans. I am now making mo definite forecast, but it certainly seems to me that the results next Tuesday will be determined by the independent voters.
What makes independent voters? Certainly one factor is discontent with blind partisanship and disgust with party leaders. Again, it is sheer restlessness and dissatisfaction with the way things are going.
As the veteran Arizona Senator Ashurst gracefully declared on his enforced retirement after 40 years in the United States Senate:
It is the privilege of the people to displace an official and substitute another for any good reason, or for a bad one, or for no reason at all.
That implies what we all know that there is no accounting for what the electors may do in any given situation. Facts, reason, vision, principle, may all play their part, but so do ignorance, prejudice, and passion. Remember that people are governed by their emotions far more than by their intellect!
These confusing doubts are the marks of sovereigns all the way down through the pages of history. And by what reason should we expect any more from our 44,000,000 sovereign voters on Tuesday than could be expected of kings, emperors, or dictators?
Expresses Own Belief
I, however, have great faith in our voters regardless of their party, race, or creed provided they will take their God and their conscience into the polling
Are our voters wise? Will they do what is fundamentally right next Tuesday? Yes, I believe they will. The natural automatic checks and balances in our religion and body politics, representing among the voters every creed and element, provide a great saving grace.
Remember, however, this free flow of human elements at the polls, combined with the provisions of our Constitution, give us the only security upon which we can count.
DOW JONES AVERAGES
|
High |
Low |
Close |
| Industrials |
135.03 |
133.94 |
134.85 |
| Railroads |
29.34 |
29.10 |
28.65 |
| Utilities |
23.45 |
23.15 |
23.44 |
| Stocks |
45.81 |
45.41 |
45.72 |
Total – 466,860 shares.
NEW YORK STOCK CLOSING PRICES
By The Associated Press
|
|
| Air Reduction |
42.25 |
| Allied Chemical & Dye Corp. |
171 |
| Allied Ch. M |
37.125 |
| American Can |
93.625 |
| American Rad. & St. S. |
7.625 |
| American Smelting & Refining |
43.25 |
| American Telephone & Telegraph |
163.75 |
| American Tobacco (B) |
72.75 |
| Anaconda Copper |
25 |
| Atchison T. & S. F. |
17.375 |
| Atlantic Refining |
23.875 |
| Baldwin Locomotive Ct. |
17.5 |
| Baltimore & Ohio Railroad |
4.375 |
| Bendix Aviation |
33.875 |
| Bethlehem Steel |
88.875 |
| Boeing Airplane |
17.625 |
| Borden Co. |
19.375 |
| Briggs Mfg. |
24.875 |
| Budd Mfg. |
5 |
| Case J. I. |
114 |
| Ches. & Ohio |
42.625 |
| Chrysler Corp. |
83.75 |
| Coca-Cola |
109.5 |
| Columbia G. & El. |
6.5 |
| Commonwealth & Southern |
1.5 |
| Cons. Edison |
30.375 |
| Cons. Oil |
18.75 |
| Curtiss-Wright |
8.25 |
| Del. L. & W. |
3.625 |
| Douglas Aircraft |
89.2 |
| E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. |
170 |
| Eastern Airlines |
37.5 |
| Eastman Kodak |
137 |
| Elec. Auto Life |
36.625 |
| General Electric |
35.375 |
| General Foods |
37.125 |
| General Motors |
51.5 |
| General Refractories |
28 |
| Greyhound Corp. |
11.125 |
| Illinois Central |
8.375 |
| Interlake Iron |
10.5 |
| International Harvester |
54 |
| International Nickel Co., Ltd. |
25.75 |
| International Telephone & Telegraph Inc. |
2.125 |
| Jarvis Co. |
13.375 |
| Kennecott Copper |
34.375 |
| Kresge S. S. |
25.125 |
| Lehigh Portland Cement |
23.25 |
| Lehigh Valley Railroad |
3.375 |
| Liggett & Myers |
98.25 |
| Loew’s Theatres Inc. |
27.5 |
| Monsanto |
85.75 |
| Montgomery Ward |
39.25 |
| Nash-Kelvinator |
5.625 |
| National Biscuit |
18.375 |
| National Dairy Pr. |
13.625 |
| National Power & Lt |
8.5 |
| NY Central Railroad |
14.125 |
| North American Co. |
21.25 |
| Northern Pacific Railway |
7.125 |
| Packard Motors |
3.5 |
| Pan Am Airways |
16.75 |
| Paramount Pictures |
8.875 |
| Pathé Film Co. |
10.2 |
| Penney (JC) |
89.75 |
| Pennsylvania Railroad |
24 |
| Public Service NJ |
34.25 |
| Pullman Co. |
27 |
| Pure Oil |
8 |
| Radio Corp. of America |
5.125 |
| Republic Steel |
21.875 |
| Reynolds Tobacco (B) |
33.625 |
| Sears Roebuck & Co. |
79.75 |
| Shell Un. Oil |
10.5 |
| Socony-Vacuum |
8.5 |
| Sperry Corp. |
41.875 |
| Standard Brands |
6.875 |
| Standard Gas & E |
1.875 |
| Standard Oil CA |
18.75 |
| Standard Oil IN |
26.125 |
| Standard Oil NJ |
35.125 |
| Studebaker Corp. |
8.375 |
| Texas Co. |
37.375 |
| United Airlines |
19.125 |
| United Corp. |
2.375 |
| United Gas Improvement |
12 |
| U.S. Rubber |
22 |
| U.S. Steel |
69.875 |
| Warner Bros. Pictures |
2.875 |
| Western Union |
21.75 |
| West Electric & Manufacturing |
107 |
| Woolworth (FW) |
36 |
| Yellow Truck & Coach Mfg. Co. |
15.25 |
| Youngstown Sheet & Tube |
42 |
COMMODITY MARKETS
Aluminum – 18¢; antimony, 14¢.
Cocoa – Cocoa futures were unchanged. December, 4.45–4.50¢; March, 4.56–4.62¢; May, 4.68¢; July, 4.73-4.77¢; September, 4.79–4.85¢.
Copper – Electrolytic 11¢, export 10.5–11¢.
Cotton – Cotton futures were easier. December, 9.60–9.59¢; March, 9.56–9.57¢; May, 9.16¢; July, 9.28¢; October, 8.79¢.
Lead – New York, 5.50–5.55¢. East St. Louis, 5.35¢.
Mercury – $167 to $170 per flask of 76 pounds.
Platinum – $34 to $36 per ounce.
Rubber – No. 1 standard rubber futures were 10 to 11 points lower. December, 20.20–20.35¢; March, 19.87–19.88¢; May, 19.67–19.70¢. New contract was nominally. December, 20.35¢, offered; July, 19.60¢, offered.
Sugar – Contract 3 sugar futures were unchanged. January, 1.88–1.90¢; March, 1.93–1.95¢; May, 1.98–1.99¢; July, 2.01–2.02¢; September, 2.05¢. Spot Cuba, 1.97¢. Duty free, 2.87¢. Refined cane net cash, 4.263¢. No. 4 contract was 0.5 point higher. December, 0.755–0.77¢; March, 0.825¢; May, 0.855–0.865¢; July 0.875¢; September, 0.91–0.93¢.
Tin – Spot straits, 51¢; tungsten $2.25 to $2.50 per pound.
Zinc – New York, 7.64¢. East St. Louis, 7.25¢.
PHILA. CLOSING STOCKS
Philadelphia, Nov. 3 (AP) –
|
|
| Lehigh Coal & Navigation |
2.25 |
| Pennsylvania Railraod |
24.125 |
| Pennroad Corp. |
2.75 |
| UGI |
12.125 |
GOVERNMENT BONDS
New York, Nov. 3 (AP) –
| Description |
Sales (1,000) |
High |
Low |
Close |
| Treasury 3.25s 45-43 |
10 |
108.19 |
108.19 |
108.19 |
| Treasury 3.25s 46-44 |
10 |
109.20 |
109.19 |
109.19 |
| Treasury 2.25s 47-45 |
4 |
109.20 |
109.18 |
109.18 |
| Treasury 3s 55-51 |
13 |
111.22 |
111.17 |
111.20 |
| Treasury 2.875s 60-55 |
59 |
109.40 |
108.28 |
109.40 |
| Home Owners 3s 52-44 |
1 |
107.27 |
107.27 |
107.37 |
| Home Owners 1.5s 47-45 |
4 |
102.17 |
102.14 |
102.17 |
| NYC Bond 3s 80 |
458 |
99.25 |
98.375 |
99.875 |
U.S. TREASURY REPORT
Washington, Nov. 3 (AP) –
The position of the Treasury:
|
|
| Expenses |
$3,169,507,345.40 |
| Receipts |
$1,822,258,823.49 |
| Gross deficit |
$1,347,248,521.91 |
| Net deficit |
$1,329,512,821.91 |
| Cash balance |
$1,920,167,801.22 |
| Working balance |
$1,182,661,298.04 |
| Public debt |
$44,137,245,618.38 |
| Gold reserve |
$21,505,504,799.11 |
| Customs |
$102,084,000 |
The Pittsburgh Press (November 4, 1940)
NIAGARA HUDSON POWER SHOWS BIGGER PROFIT
New York, Nov. 4 (UP) –
Net income of the Niagara Hudson Power Corp. for the third quarter ended September 30 amounted to $1,610,654, compared with $1,099,794 a year ago, the company reported today.
Operating income amounted to $5,635,359, against $5,289,697 in the corresponding 1939 period.
For the 12 months ended September 30, the corporation had net income of $7,781,200, against $7,696,871 in the corresponding 12 months ended September 30, 1939, while operating income for the year was $24,071,144, against $24,54,694 in the preceding period.