The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-17
BOND SALE AIDS
 MONEY MARKET New York City Issue Sub scribed Six Times Oyer OUTLOOK VERY PROMISING Professionals Have Had. Control of the Stock Market For Some Time
 and the Public Has Been
 Awaiting Developments.
OUTLOOK VERY PROMISING

New York, February 16-The most im-
 portant event of last week in the finan- oial world was the sale of $5O,OOOO00 of
 New York city AZ per cent bonds, the
 largest single offering in the history of
 the municipality. The sale established
 new records in various other particulars,
 the 1160 individual bidders far outnumber-
 ing the previous record of SS6 for last September's s4O,0O0,0oO sale, and the gross
 bids reached the enormous total of SS0O, O,0O0,OO0, or an oversubscription six times
 the amount of the issue. The average price realized at 104 compares with log, 063
 for the September issue, or in other terms
 the new issue is on basis of investment
 return to the subscribers of 4.32 per cent, compared with 4.39 per cent for the Sep tember subscriptions The outcome is re- garded as solid testimony in improv-
 ing financial health, and a substantial
 improvement in the demand of capital for
 investment and replenishment in the
 available supply of capital. Bond dealers as rule express great satisfaction with
 the result and look for material benefit
 to the market for all grades of invest. l ment securities as an effect of the New
 York city bond sale
 The securities market gave clear ,evi-
 dence of the whiting attitude assumed by 1 the substantial capital interests of the l country pending the more definite shaping
 of industry and business affairs. Opera
 tfons were manifestly in professional I hands to a large extent and the shifting
 fluctuations of prices presented little more than the varying fortunes of the contest being waged between them The | question of the integrity of dividends in. 1 face of the heavy falling off in traffic 1 and earnings of the railroads naturally l played considerable part in the weak l ness
 <. Imminent needs of financing to meet
 maturing requirements was another cause
 which bore heaviest on securities of com 1 panies of which these needs were known
 to be most urgent. This cause was ag- | gravated by the fact that the investment l demand for bonds which became active 1 during January largely subsided in spite | Of the continued ease in the money mar | ket proper. The downward course of l money rates, in fact, suffered some ar
 rest, and especially in foreign markets, l where the payment of Bank of England
 obligations to the Bank of France was an
 influence with reactionary effect on Brit
 ish consols and gilt edged investment is- | sues. 1 News of factory assumptions on con- 1 siderable scale has been feature of day 1 to day developments, mixed however, | with advices of additional curtailment in 1 other lines.
 | Figures of bank clearngs. while still
 showing a large contraction from last | years corresponding periods, are begin ming to make less favorable comparison | than the preceding reports. The same is 1 true of gross earnings of railroads l The net returns of railroads for Decem-
 Der now coming in reflect the depth of the l depression, and their influence has been | contended with. Authorities in the iron
 and steel trade speak with some encour- 1 agement of an enlargement of demand | and the placing of some orders for steel I rails by the railroads was an episode of ] the week that was regarded as favorable