Monday, Nov. 19, 1928

Foolish? Stubborn?

Oils, coppers, utilities up 3 to 7 points as the market opens Wednesday, then churn back and forth. Kennecott copper up 12; Curtiss Aero, 12 1/3; Wright Aero, 15 1/2. Turnover: 4,894,670 shares. . . . More on Thursday, 5,037,330 shares, second "five million" day in history, only a handful less than on record-breaking June 12. Montgomery Ward closes at 366. Net gain: 17 points. Mounting, too, are Wright (6 1/2-points more, 22 in two days), Coty, Inc. (10 1/2). Where is the ticker? Over an hour behind (might as well have been a week) on Thursday, 47 minutes the day before, 46 minutes on Friday. Friday: Montgomery Ward adds another 18 points, closes at 384. It was 349 on Wednesday morning. . . . What is happening to Radio? Climbing whole points at a time, Radio soars from 234 1/2 to an incredible 270. Who is pushing it? No one knows, and it suddenly tumbles back to 252, where it rests perilously at the tap of the final gong. General Motors lags, closes 3/4 off, in spite of its new 150% stock dividend. Why? Perhaps too many shares for the pools to handle. General Electric gains 83 1/2 points, keeps them. . . . Railroads are strong, may become market leaders when coppers and oils yield. Friday's turnover: 4,999,140 shares. . . . Three days: 14,931,140. Weary brokers long for Saturday noon. At length, it comes. Montgomery Ward passes the 400 mark ... a new half-day record with 3,260,000 shares. . . . Sunday is quiet all right; the exchange is closed. . . " Monday is a record for all time; 5,917,000 shares change hands; the general trend is upward; Radio jumps 25 points. . . .

Thus, the Hoover market. Like its predecessor, the much-loved, much-criticized Coolidge market, it is the joy of bulls, despair of bears. Will it last? Will it break? Foolish bulls or stubborn bears?