The nation's investment bankers set a number of records last week swapping new pieces of paper for old. In the busiest underwriting week since 1929, bondmen offered $378 million of corporate and municipal bonds to an easy-money market that gulped the flotations and bid for more.
Two of the largest corporate offerings ever made hiked the week's business to its record-breaking activity: 1) $180 million worth of Commonwealth Edison Co. and 2) $130 million of Philadelphia Electric Co. bonds. Like most big issues since 1934—when the easy-money era began— these two utility issues were for refunding purposes.
But this week investment bankers...