Evening star., 1940-03-03
Stores Prepared
For upturn in
Easter Trade
Foctory Production
Sets Steodier Pace
After Decline
BY FRANK MacMILLEN.

By FRANK MacMILLEN,
Associated Press Business Writer.
NEW YORK, March 2.-Mercf.
ants got ready this week for an
expected upturn in Easter trade and
factory production struck a steadier
stride after nearly two months Of
decline. ~
Early shopping for the Easter pa
rade Of fashion introduced familiar
spring note into the main war
theme Of business reports. On the
home fronts, anyway, war planes
and guns gave way in trade COM
ment to the state of demand for new
hats, shoes and dresses.
The word from retail observers
was that merchants had stocked
shelves more abundantly than last
year in anticipation of larger sales
In the next few weeks. supported by
a higher level of employment and q
freer wartime spending mood. e.
In many places Easter shopping
was of to slow start because slusl1-
covered streets, more snow and
rains, notably on the Pacific Coast,
kept attendance In the retail dis.
tricts below normal.
Latest Federal Reserve Board fig.
ures for the week ended February
"a showed departmnt store sales
running per cent ahead of q year
ago.
Deliveries Difficult.
Dun & Bradstreet said this years
Easter tastes in clothes were slanted
toward navy and black and that
merchants frequently had a problem
In obtaining quick deliveries on
medium and higher-priced dresses
for the pre-Easter calls.
Shedding some light on why mer-
chants were expecting a rise in
Easter buying for the feminine
wardrobe was the Dun & Bradstreet
observation that sales of mems
clothes were exceptionally brisk"
On the mans end. the demand for
work clothes seemed to carry hint
of a springtime increase in outdoor
heavy construction. home building
and farm activities.
With further curtailment taking
place in steel and other lines. the
Associated Press index Of indus
trial activity declined for the sew
enth week. But the weeks drop
was the smallest Of the recession
from the peaks of the autumn war
boom.
The composite index now stands
at 101.f per cent of the 1920-30 level
compared with the 1889 top around
112. A year ago it was s7.2.
War Influenees Seen.
Wartime influences still were evi.
dent in key industries notably In
revived buying Of steel, copper and
lead. Trade sources reported no.
ticeable improvement In steel buy.
ing after several months Of slack
demand, during which mills sup
piled many of the big orders taken
in the buying rush at the outset Of
the war.
The resumption of buying In met
ais encouraged some analysts to
forecast a nearby reversal Of the
main business trend. But whether
anything more than seasonal change
for the better was in sight kept
most observers guessing.
Security markets, long regarded
as good weather vanes responding
to changes in business winds, con.
tinued to drift in a narrow course,
as If unimpressed by the seat
tered indications of livelier buying
In retail and wholesale markets.
Speculative markets were curl
ously Indifferent to business trends
in the. first six months of the war.
Except for a short lived Septem-
Der advance, the stock list ignored
the autumn upswing Of industry,
Likewise 1t followed its own leis-
urely course the last two months
Independent of the sharp down
OF factory operations.
For lack of better explanation,
many Wall Streeters blame the mar
ket's sleepy inattention to business
news on the war and desire to wait
Tor a closer view of presidential
campaign prospects in the United
| States.
Readjustment Faced.
Evidence multiplied the struggle
overseas would bring further read.
1ustment of business in this coun.
try to altered world conditions. War.
ring countries sought to reduce i'm.
ports Of various consumption goods
from the United States and other
sources In order to find exchange
Tor purchase of war supplies.
Among developments that way
was a British hint England NAV
seek more Brazilian cotton to satisfy
Its spinning needs in order to con.
serve dollar exchange. The con.
siderable expansion in Uncle Sans
exports in the first five months Of
the war was due in large part to
increased shipments of cotton.
Renewed buying in copper. lead
and zinc, it was said, could be traced
IN part to the urge Of manufac-
turers to carry larger supplies than
usual in recognition of the shift Of
industrial production toward arma-
ment, a voracious use Of metal.
Scarcity Of shipping on Atlantic
(See TRADE. pare E-3J =