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This article focuses on the scheduled bond offering of Transitron Electronic Corp. on December 8, 1959. The company will sell 1 million shares representing 13% of its outstanding common at a price of 38 dollars per share. More than 100 underwriting associates lead by Merrill Lynch and Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. will market the bond offering. The offering is being considered as the most exciting by market observers prompting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate the offering.

Several tables are presented which lists various competitive bond offerings, negotiated bond offerings and negotiated note offerings in the U.S.

The article examines government securities prices. Yields on U.S. Treasury bonds are at historic lows of less than one percent as investors have sought a safe haven during the financial crisis. Government securities yields have begun to rise in early 2009, however, as the spread between those rates and the returns offered by stock dividends and corporate bonds grew to levels of over 3 percent.