Finance: Eurodollar Stampede

A rush to borrow abroad seemed perfectly predictable after President Johnson, in his New Year's Day package of balance of payments restrictions, prohibited U.S. companies from sending dollars overseas for investment in Western Europe. Still, it came as a surprise to financiers on both sides of the Atlantic that the rush for Eurodollars—U.S. dollars already in foreign hands—expanded into a wild stampede.

So far this year, U.S. corporations have floated or announced $443 million of bond issues abroad, all denominated in dollars—which meant that they could be bought only with Eurodollars. The...