Strong-Man Act

The stockmarket put on a strong-man act last week. Defying the worst flood of news since the fall of France (when equities nose-dived more than 30 points), the venerable Dow-Jones industrial averages rose $1.09 while the British were fleeing toward Alexandria, 76-c- more when Auchinleck began to halt the Rommel rush on Friday. Stocks went up $1.04 the day Hitler captured Sevastopol: 67-c- in the two days it took his African troops to capture Matruh.

Individual issues did even better. In five trading days last week Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe rose 4 7/8; Sears, Roebuck 3 1/8 American Telephone 3; Atlantic Coast Line 2; and General Motors 1 1/4.

Brokers offered two good reasons for these gains: 1) relative to earnings and dividends, stocks are the lowest ever; 2) stocks are a hedge against inflation, now considered almost inevitable.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.