The New York herald., 1921-03-07
HIGH GRADE BONDS
IN BETTER DEMAND
Distributing Bankers See I'M
provement in Resumed Buy
ing Movement.

mand for high grade bond issues last
week. and distributing bankers were
encouraged to believe that the slight
improvement marked the resumption of
the buying movement which virtually
came TO halt two weeks ago after a
six weeks unbroken run. The period OF
depression caused by the oversuppiy of
new offerings was shorter than expected
by even the most optimistic observer,
showing that the great bulk OF recently
issued investment securities had been
absorbed by real investors and that the
few loose ends were quickly taken up.
Further proof of the soundness OF the
present bond market was gwen by the
steady tone of old line bonds and the
definite signs that investors were taking
advantage of the opportunity offered by
the temporary reaction to buy recently
offered bonds at less than the price or
issue.
Approximately s23,000.ooo Of new
securities offered last week to the public
was an increase OF $10,000.000 COM
pared with the offering of the preceding
week The most notable issue. perhaps.
was the $4,000. 900 Sac Paulo per
cent loan, applications for which are
said to be up TO the expectations of It's
sponsors. The portion of that loan Of
fered in London was a great success
and was largely oversubscribed in a
few hours which Is explained by the
| fact that it was the first foreign loan
permitted to be issued In England for a
long time.
A highly successful piece of financing
last week was s5.000,0 900 offering of
first mortgage twenty year s per cent.
bonds of the Saron Steel Hoop Com
pany. Orders largely in excess of the
amount OF bonds available were re-
ceived in a short time. Practically all
other issues of last week were public
utility or State and city bonds. The
most important were $1.250,000 OF
Hidalgo county, Texas, water improve
ment per cent. bonds; $4,000, 600 OF the
Public Service Company of Northern
Illinois fifteen year IA per cent. de-
bentures and $2.500.O00 Of the Shawini-
gan Water and Power Company's first
refunding mortgage sinking fund per
cent bonds. The unsold balance
amounting to about 100000. or the
Home Telephone and Telegraph Com
pany's per cent mortgage bonds was
Drought out ana Qulchiy SOiu.
Buying of municipal bonds continued
on a satisfactory scale, and specialists
m that line see signs of an early resump-
ton OF n good investment demand. A
great many bonds have been taken from
the shelves of dealers In the last two
weeks at prices only slightly below the
original Offering price and the market
for municipals Is said to be in very
healthy condition.
Several large houses OF issue are sald
to be working out details of some large
pieces of new financing which may
come this week. The s25.OOO,OOc OF snort
term notes of the Humble Oil and Re
filming Company, sold to ]. p. Morgan
& Co, will be offered for subscription
to-day. That company is the largest
producing subsidiary of the Carter Oh
Company, which is a subsidiary of the
Standard Oil Company of New jersey.
This Is the fourth piece or STANDARD
OIL financing in little more than TWO
months. The Standard Oil Company or
California raised S25,000,0Oo last Decem-
ber. the Standard Oil Company OF row
York 100000 In that month. and n
January the Atlantic Refining Company
sold $1,000, 600 Of bonds. Including the
Humble bonds there has been about
s125, ,0OO, 900 of oil financing in the last
three months.
The refusal Of tho Interstate Com
merce Commission to grant last week
authority to the Chicago. Burlington
and Quincy Railroad Company to issue
s109, 100000 of first and refunding mors-
gage bonds was a surprise to the finan-
cial community. So sure was the
Street that the commission would give
its permission for the issuance OF those
bonds that many investment brokers
had sold the bonds on a when issued
basis The bankers who have charge of
the meeting of the Chicago, Burlington
and Quincy's $215 100000 maturity on
July- / started work on a new plan I'M
mediately, and II will be presented to the
Interstate Commerce Commission.
Another maturity which came In for
considerable discussion last week was
the s25. 100000 Of two year 5ik per
cent. bonds OF the Canadian Govern
ment which mature on April 1. AS far
as could be learned of the results of
conferences between Canadian Govern
ment officials and local bankers held
here. the disposition OF the Dominion
Government is TO pay the loan at ma
turity without .refunding. Another batch
of SIS 600 Of Canadian Government
notes falls due on August l.
There was further heavy buying OF
Libertys and Victorys last week, large
portion OF WnlCn was Salu 10 nave come
from the United States Treasury for the
account OF the sinking fund. That Lib
ertys are looked on very favorably at
current prices s shown by one large
switching operation reported. The
state OF Minnesota sold s905. 900 Of
Commonwealth OF Massachusetts regis
tered gold bonds which were held In It's
treasury. with the intention Of reinvest-
ing the proceeds of that sale In Libertys
Iibertys and Victorys retired In Jan
uary aggregated S24.710.550. against
s3.744, coo in December. II is under
stood that about 81 100000 OF Llbertys
and Victorys will be taken out OF the
market by the Treasury as a result OF
present operations. The Treasury is
really considerably behind I'm It's sinking
fund purchases, especially IN Victorys,
which have the earliest maturities.
As a result Of the Supreme Court de-
cision last week Federal Land Bank and
Joint Stock Land Bank bonds were ac-
tive. with a resultant decrease OF their
Yields. IL is expected that there will be
soon q large Offering Of those bonds
The public has purchased s149. 900
Of Federal Land Bank bonds and the
Government holds sis3,035,00 OF them.
Foreign issues In the bond market
were depressed last week by the Euro
pean news and weakness was shown by
United Kingdom and French issues. On
tho other hand. the passage OF the
Wlnslow-Townsend bill helped railroad
issues to some extent.
The total or corporate financing in
February was s25s.3S0o00, contrasted