Monsanto Is Only Firm to Sell Bonds

Monsanto Co. is the only company slated to sell bonds this week, as signs of a slowing economy crimp demand for corporate debt.

The $1-billion sale by Monsanto, an agricultural products maker that is being spun off by Pharmacia Corp., will come on the heels of the slowest full week of bond sales since the second week of May, when eight companies sold $2.9 billion of bonds.

The slide in sales underscores the difficulties companies are having raising money amid investor worries about accounting fraud and slowing profits.

About $2.8 billion of corporate bond sales were canceled in the second half of July as investors moved out of stocks and corporate debt and into the relative safety of government bonds.

Investors’ doubts grew about the accuracy of accounting after WorldCom Inc. hid $3.9 billion of expenses and then filed for bankruptcy protection, roiling stock and corporate bond markets and slowing bond sales in July to less than $20 billion.

That compares with a monthly average of $44 billion for the year, according to CreditSights Inc., an independent research firm.