Livermore's Doubts

In a week whose outstanding developments were in the money and securities markets, there has been much conjecture regarding the opinions and the position of Jesse L. Livermore, easily the leading stock market operator of today. Back in the Winter he had announced (TIME, Feb. 25) that he was "bearish" on industrial stocks--a prediction which the subsequent market declines emphatically justified. Wall Street, half-persuaded to turn bullish on the present low money rates, has waited to see "when Livermore would cheer up" and take the lead in "putting 'em up." But Mr. Livermore still stands pat. In a recent interview, the famed operator stated his opinion and his reasons for it. He feels that it takes more than simply cheap money to make a bull market, and pointed out that recently we had had bull markets when money was high. Mr. Livermore still believes that there is overproduction in almost all industrial lines, and until stocks are sold and output sufficiently regulated, industrial uncertainty is bound to continue. Politics he considers of only minor importance as far as the fundamentals are concerned. To his mind, the curtailment of acreage now being accomplished by wheat-growers, whose output had been artificially stimulated during the War period, is symbolic of what industrial concerns must do. Nor, under present wage scales, does he think new outlets for surplus American products can readily be found.

Mr. Livermore in the past has had his own opinions concerning the business outlook. The importance attached to them in Wall Street and elsewhere is due to the large number of times he has been right.