Evening star., 1935-04-07
Both Retail and Wholesale
Volumes Record Rise
During Week.
AUTO OUTPUT HELPS
OFFSET LAG ELSEWHERE
Steel Rate Falls to 44.4 Per Cent
and Power Production Drops
More Than Expected.
BY RAIDER WINGET,
Associated Press Financial Writer.

last week like a See-saW with some
Industrial lines starting a second
quarter decline and retail and whole
sale trade swinging upward.
Automobile production, highest
since the week of April 26, 1880.
helped hold the general industrial
average from a sharper fall. Output
was 1o7,8e5 units, as estimated by
Grams, compared with 103,286 during
the previous week.
Carloadings rose 1.6 per cent in the
latest week. over the previous week,
to a level IL per cent higher than the
same week of 1884. Recent increases
in the total, at 617,485 cars, resulted
from heavier shipments of coal caused
by a fear of a mining strike. but the
latest rise was occasioned by general
merchandise shipments, a condition
called healthy" by analysts.
Steel dipped to 444 per cent Of
capacity last week from 46.l in the
previous week, as estimated by the
Steel Institute, and electric power
production fell more than was ex-
pected at this season. Production
for the latest week was % per cent
higher than year ago, compared
with per cent the previous week.
Retail Sales Climb.
Retail trade, however, moved higher
as Easter approached, many OF the
larger cities reported a good trade
in women's apparel, and most re-
tailers expected business that should
be well above last years Easter trade.
In some centers, trade at the pre-
sent time is above the same period
of last year, when Easter trade was
at a peak, and IN the next few weeks
comparisons should be sharply above
the same calendar period Of 1884. for
the holiday came several weeks earlier
| last year.
Wholesale markets. Of course have
been favorably affected by retail de-
mand, and activity there is expected
to recede seasonally before the Easter
retail activity is passed.
Industrial production. on the other
hand has been falling for several
weeks, due to a combination Of sea-
sonal factors. and further declines are
predicted by some analysts, mainly
because of the planned curtailment
of cotton textile production, factor
which looms large in most industrial
production indices.
Some analysts have adopted the
phrase conservative trend" when
speaking of the forthcoming months.
Security Gains Cited.
Consistent gains in securities mar
kets in recent days have created an
encouraging air in Wall Street quar-
tiers. and passage of the S4,880, 900 900
works relief bill by Congress ended
weeks of legislative wrangling that
had tended to confuse the business
picture.
Demand by consumers for autono-
biles and farm machinery has been
strong of recent weeks, and the Gov
ernment's relief program is expected
to swell or hold steady the trend.
As an evidence of the increase in
general consumer demands, bank
clearings were ia per cent higher in
the larger cities for the week ended
April 8 than for the corresponding
week of last year. The previous week
showed a gain of 1873 per cent over
the 1884 week.
The March total of bank cleartngs
was 12.1 per cent over March OF
1894, the highest total since January
of 1882. and continuation OF the
recent rising trend.
International currency complica-
tions created an unsettled state Of
affairs in the export market.
and with uncertainty over the fate
of the Dutch guilder there was a
spread to domestic markets of the
confusion.
Cut in GuiIder Feared.
As an example, the rubber industry
with large stocks on hand feared that
devaluation of the guilder might
cause a corresponding drop in rub
ber prices and lead to an inventory
| loss.
Reports for last week from indi-
vidual Federal Reserve districts follow:
BOSTON.-Demand for wool was
rather above normal, with cotton goods
markets definitely slow in the first
district
NEW YORK-General trade in the
New York metropolitan district was
higher with some estimates placing the
gain at 10 per cent over a year ago.
Parcel deliveries gained slightly. but
the number of buyers from out of town
declined. Buffalo steel production
fell to 80 per cent of capacity.
PHILADELPHIA all the
branches of retail trade in the third
district entered April at higher levels
than the first Of March, but the
months total was to per cent un-
der 1884. Most branches Of the tex
tile industry adopted the lower oper-
ating rate.
CLEVELAND.-Retai tradesmen in
the fourth district reported business
up from the previous week. WHY'S
Overland expanded operations in
Toledo. Akron was disturbed by a
rubber strike threat. Steel output de-
clined at Youngstown but increased at
Cleveland and Lorain. General busi-
ness at Pittsburgh was highest for the
| year.
Baltimore Trade Brisk.
| RICHMOND.-Debits to individual
bank accounts in the fifth district
surged upward, and Baltimore re-
ported brisk wholesale-retail trade.
Washington retail buying was slowed
by inclement weather, but residential
building activity was noticeable.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and retail
store business was reported good In
the sixth district, although weather
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