The first news of Stalin's illness knocked some wind out of the market last week, but only for a day. Then stocks made up their losses and took the change in power in Russia in their stride.
But there was plenty of excitement in "graveyard" bond issues, i.e., defaulted bonds of satellite countries. A flurry of trading sent Polish bonds scampering from 8 to 13, the highest price since 1949. Estonian issues jumped from 11⅞ to 15, the highest they had climbed since 1947. Overnight, an issue of Kreuger & Toll bonds, backed by assets frozen in Hungary, more than doubled...
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