Peace Shares

With one big rush, the stock market last week wiped out the last of its losses caused by the Korean war—and then some. In the closing session of the week, the landing at Inchon pushed it still higher in a fever of trading that reached 820,000 shares in the last hour. Trading had soared past 2,000,000 shares for three successive days, and boosted the Dow-Jones average of 30 industrial stocks by 5.04 points, to 225.85.

This average was still a shade below its mid-June—and bull market—high of 228.38. But some stock averages with a wider cross section of the market (e.g., the New York Times index of 50 combined stocks) had already broken through their June peaks and reached the highest levels since 1931. The conviction that victory was closer also brought a shift in trading psychology. The favorites last week were the television, motor and other “peace” shares, hardest hit by scare selling at the outbreak of the war.