The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-17
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Outcome of New York City Bond Sale Received With
 Satisfaction.
AIDS INVESTMENT MARKET
Waiting Attitude of Capital Continued by Many Cnsettling In-
 fiuences.

New York. Feb. 16.--The most inn portant event of last week in the finan- cial world was the sale of $50 900, 900 of New York city 1-2 per cent bonds, the largest single offering in the his- tory of the municipality, The sale es- tablished new records in various other particulars, the 1,160 individual bid ders far out numbering the previous, record of S6 for last September $40, 000,- 900 sale and the gross bids reached the enormous total of S3O0,0OO.0 GOO or an over subscription six times the amount of the issue. The average price realized at 104 compares with 102063 for the Sepemter issue, or, in other terms, the new issue is on a basis of investment return to the subscribers of 4.32 per cent compared with 4.39 per cent for the September subscriptions. The out come is regarded as a solid testimonial to improving financial health. Bond dealers as a rule express great satsfac- tion with the result and look for ma terial benefit of the market for all grades of investment securities.
 The securities market gave clear evi- derce of the waiting attitude assumed by the substantial capital interests of this co Intry pending the more definite shaping of industrial and business af- fairs Operations were manlfestly in professional hands to a large extent and the shifting fuctations of prices represented little more than the vary ing fortunes of the contest being wag- ! ol La+r, ncin o1 was liquidation in one or another spec ia security which had an unsettling effect on the whole list and carried prices in some individual stocks to points lower than were touched in the panic period. The question of the in- tegrity of dividends in face of the heavy fall off in traffic and earnings of the railroad naturally played a consid- erable part in the weakn <, Imminent needs of financing to nieet maturing re- qurements was another cause which bore heaviest on securities of compan- ies of which these needs were known to be most urgent. This cause was ag- gravated by the fact. that the invest ment demand for bonds, which became active during January has largely sub sided, despite the continued ease in the money market.
 The downward course of money rates, in fact, suffered some arrest, especially in foreign markets, where the payment of bank of England obligations to the bank of France was an influence with reactonary effect on British consos and gilt-edged investment issues Be- tween now and July 1 there are heavy maturites of short-time railroad notes of some bonds dating back from an earlier period of payments of install- ments of subscriptions on capital issues which were offered before the stringen- cy in the money market developed. An awakening of investment demand from capital is important not only to prO- vide for these refunding operations on issues of which the proceeds have all ready been expended, but also to pro vide resources for the resumption of plans of equipment and betterment un- derway.
 These have been the unsettling infu- ences in the securities market and their effect has not been entirely neutralized ly the conservative opinions of i'm provement in the general business situ- alton which finds expression from var ious authoritative source and find con- firmation in some of the returns of trade. News of factory assumptions on a considerable scale has been feature of day-to-day developments, mixed however, with advives of additional curtailment in other lines. Figures of bank clearings. while still showing a large contraction from last years cor responding periods are beginning to make less favorable comparison than the preceding reports. The same is true of gross earnings of railroads for the latter weeks reporting The net returns to railroads for December now coming in reflect the depth of the de- pression and their influence has to be contended with Authorities in the iron and steel trade speak with some en- couragement of an enlargement of de- mand and the placing of some orders fore steel rails by the railroads was an episode of the west that was regarded as favorable