The U.S. Treasury offered $9.1 billion in new securities last week to private holders of maturing debt and got a shock. It had hoped to persuade most of the holders of maturing issues, bearing 1⅞% and 2½% interest rates, to trade them in for new Government securities paying 3¾% and 4%. Instead, owners of more than 20% of the old issues demanded to be paid off in cash, the biggest such demand in six months. To help make up the difference, the Treasury must go to the public this week with a $1.5 billion emergency issue.
The failure of the latest debt...
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