Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-18
Special Dispatch to The Star.


NEW YORK, January 1.-THE week
in the investment market was virtually
a repetition of the same week of 1880.
Flooding of a strong and rising bond
market with new bonds forced listed
issues down from their highs The in
dication of the previous week that deal
ers would not force the market was not
borne out
In the first three days of the week
over 00000.000 of new offerings were
put out and the total for the week
was $3.50, 548,0 900, against S38,995000 in
the previous week and 1905, 058,000 in
the same week of 1880.
Most Issues High Grade.
In the corresponding week of 1880,
however, the large total was more than
half accounted for by the $150,000,-
900 offering of American Telephone &
Telegraph SIS of 1865. This week prac-
tically all the new bonds were of
high grade, but in most cases they
were priced much below the listed
market, thus forcing down the prices
of companion issues. The featured
example of this was $50.000,000 of In
ternational Match per cent deben-
lures, offered at SO. The outstanding
SIS of the same corporation had been
selling around SO to 99l2. AS soon as
the new offering was announced with
its convertible feature, the listed issue
declined over points. Columbia Gas
offered S50000,000 of new bonds and
these depressed the outstanding IS in
exactly the same way, though not so
widely.
The market WIS headed for a broad
recession had it not been for the hur-
ried action of dealers in postponing
other new offerings for the present to
give the newly convalescent market
time to digest this mass OF material.
Two large proposed issues, $500 ,O00,OOO
of Consolidated Gas bonds and $780,
100000 of Pennsylvania Power & Light
obligations, were set back on the cal
endar, the latter for an indefinite
period. AS a result the market made
the week. though this was almost en-
tirely confined to the high-grade section.
Foreign Dollar Bonds.
For every notch that the legal group
was showed higher, semi-speculative
descriptions were sold and the index
of 80 bonds at the end of the week had
not varied half point from last weeks
level.
Foreign dollar bonds were not much
affected by these developments, as no
bond house had the temerity even to
suggest another foreign bond offering.
There was an issue of Ontario bonds,
but these have not for many years been
classed as foreign. Brazilian and
Argentinian credits responded to de-
velopmentS in the exchange situation.
A group headed by the Rothschilds in
London placed a credit of 100000
pounds sterling at the disposal of the
Bank of Brazil for the purpose of sup
porting Milreis Exchange. Argentine |
bonds were also weak with the decline |
in the Australian sovereign against the |
pound to a discount of Is per cent. |
French and Belgian bonds remained |
firm. Italians continued to improve.
The market has to encounter certain |
adverse factors before the current dull |
ness is lifted, among them a number |
of casualties among junior bonds and |
annual earnings reports for 1880 from |
which little is expected. The addition |
to this load of a renewed flood of new |
bonds might conceivably carry the list |
back to its December low.
Cheap Money Policy.
This, however is an extreme view. |
Proof of the continuation of the Fed
eral reserves cheap money policy was
contained in the drop of time quota
lions to the lowest in 81 years during /
the week, and this was helpful.
An interesting piece of news during |
the week was the survey of bond I'm
ancing In Canada during 1880, as COM