The Darker View

Fears of war, rising from the Red invasion of Korea this week, scared the stock market into its biggest drop in nearly four years. When the New York Stock Exchange opened, the day after the Korean fighting started, a huge wave of panicky selling began. By day’s end, trading totaled 3,910,000 shares, the heaviest since May 21, 1940, when Hitler’s Panzer divisions were sweeping through northern France. The selling sent the Dow-Jones industrial average tumbling 10.41 points, the biggest single day’s break since the September crash of 1946.

The same blue-chip stocks which had led the market’s upward climb were hard hit. Chrysler fell 7 points to 73, General Motors was down 6⅜ to 90⅛, and A.T. & T. down 5⅞ to 153. Television stocks, a favorite of speculators, also skidded.

Traders hoped that the market would soon steady, since it has shown remarkable ability in the past to absorb bad news.