Stock, Bond Sales Shoot Up 27 Percent

Companies took advantage of rising stock prices and a flood of money pouring into mutual funds to sell about $230 billion in stocks and bonds during the second quarter, a 27 percent increase from the same period a year ago, according to Securities Data Co.

AT&T Corp. led the charge, selling $3 billion worth of shares in its equipment company, Lucent Technologies Inc., in the largest initial public stock offering in U.S. history.

Scania AB raised $2.7 billion in a stock offering in Europe and the U.S., and Ford Motor Co. raised $1.94 billion selling a 20 percent stake in Associates First Capital Corp., its consumer finance company.

Lockheed Martin Corp. sold $3.5 billion in bonds in May, the largest investment-grade corporate debt sale in history.

“Underwriting’s been huge,” said James Hanbury, analyst at Schroder Wertheim & Co. “If the flows keep coming into mutual funds at the same rate as now, it could continue to be huge.”

Merrill Lynch & Co. was the top-ranked underwriter, issuing almost $40 billion in new stocks and bonds this quarter.