BANKING & FINANCE - Dec. 30, 1993

Treasury to Announce Bond Call, Analysts Say: For only the third time since 1962, the U.S. Treasury will redeem one of its bonds early. Economists say it’s all but certain the Treasury will call the bond, an 8.5% issue due May, 1999. With interest rates at their lowest in more than two decades, the Treasury can save more than 3 points on interest payments by redeeming the bond. The bond is callable beginning May 15, 1994, and the Treasury must give investors four months’ notice. That makes the announcement date Jan. 15. The Treasury sold the $2.414-billion bond in May, 1974. Only $941 million is held by the public, said Louis Crandall, chief economist at R.H. Wrightson & Associates, a bond market consulting firm. The rest is held by the Federal Reserve System.