Show On Stock Market crossing the trade 1251 morning was Ss of the Louisiana of J-N. almost laKEi ares changed the tiding floor York Stock Ex-F-re the economic expectations of a Merged in record the biggest ci of policy by brokers with L a day put the Iding mechanism of Stock Ex-p the world's market to the the volume previous Friday's the Exchange's specialists under tremendous The specialist is the focal point of the Exchange's market-making He is the broker's broker who helps bring the forces of supply and demand into balance and who uses his own capital to help maintain a fair and orderly THE PRESSURE on the specialists on 16 came not only from the record volume but from the that at the 10 a.m. opening of the Exchange there was an avalanche of orders on the buy side with which to For in buy orders stood at more than with sell orders less than IN GENERAL there was an imbalance on Uie buy side of shares almost In U. S. public demand exceeded public supply by more than million worth of JUST HOW well the specialists performed under this is pointed up by the day's Just to help open the market that specialists risked million of their own capital by providing million of the 10 million shares in opening TEN Issues specialists risked million of their own capital to help trading the dav specialists sold million shares selling another million long for their own In they also bought million shares during the FROM their own accounts when investors wanted stock and buying when investors were specialists participated as dealers in 41 percent of the day's 32 million share than 97 percent of their purchases and sales were stabilizing for the That 97 percent of all specialists' dealings were sales at prices above and purchases at prices below the last different DURING THE day Exchange specialists made the thousands of decisions and risked millions of their own to make sure the primary market could cope with the huge flow of orders from The demand for stocks by buyers was so great that trading in more than issues of the more than common stocks listed on the Exchange had to be delayed beyond the time they would normally have a few weren't opened until the next OF these issues could have opened around 10 a.m. but the Exchange delays trading when there is a heavy preponderance of buy or sell explains Stephen M. Exchange vice who was in the thick of the trading all this case the delay gave potential buyers sufficient time to see that opening prices might be considerably different than the previous This then permitted them to change their orders if they cared at the same time assuring sellers a fair said to try and create a in the supply and demand situation at a price as near the last sale price as later learned that percent of the stocks opened a point or more above the previous close continued to go stayed the same or declined a half-point or less from the opening Peck is testimony to the specialists' unique ability and responsibility to judge and reflect the market A floor broker summed it up this GAVE the public a minimum of an hour and in some cases several hours form decisions on whether to buy or sell a particular In my the specialist system was met the and passed with flying Typical of the hectic problems that specialists faced in opening their stocks was the experience of Smith and the specialist firm handling THE AUTOMAKER stock was one of the most sought after issues that a result of the President's statement of his plan to lower the price of autos by repealing the federal excise In the morning orders to buy Chrysler as high as totaled These orders based on Friday's closing price of were worth some had only a small inventory of its own in Chrysler And during the morning public investors had come up with offers to sell only shares at prices between and That meant somebody had to come up with another CIRCULATED the situation to the a official resulted in brokerage houses around the country telling holders of Chrysler that more shares were sought in the primary market and that this demand would increase the selling 3 we received orders to sell about the specialist firm official THE SPECIALIST then put his money on the At his own risk he went short and supplied shares worth selling the shares to the public and matching up the other public orders to make an opening block of shares at ud from the previous session's closing This same more- risked additional capital to help open his other including million to open Chrysler EQUALLY pressured that Monday were floor had to make several hundred decisions that day on whether to open a particular commented Albert B. managing partner of and and the senior floor The Exchange requires a floor governor's approval before a specialist can open a stock more than two points higher than the previous closing or one point higher on issues below BY THE end of the day's 5 and one half hour trading the Exchange ticker had recorded triple the pace of the previous trading was busy all said one of the younger specialists as he leit the trading floor for his office at the end of the my legs feel REALLY it could happen any day and we'd be ready for And they The very next almost 27 million shares were traded the third largest day in Exchange |