Evening star., 1948-12-26
Some Slack Evident,
But Business Pace Is
Fairly Satisfactory
By 6. A. Phillips
Asseeiatsd Press Bvsiness Writer


NEW YORK, Dec. 25.-Business
and industry closed out Christmas
week with a little slack evident ir
some lines but with overall activity
at fairly satisfactory level.
A late sprint in retail sales that
apparently carried the December
volume over the top to new record
high was a feature on the brighter
side Of the picture.
Another batch of layoffs for in
ventory taking, shifts in production
schedules and other seasonal fac.
tors was the principal offender on
the draggy side of the news.
While there were few, if any, re.
tailers who did as much busines.
as they had counted on, a spot
check in key centers indicated thai
when the last dollar is counted
the total this year will be bit
ahead OF the record piled up at thi.
time last gear.
Industry Holds Pace.
Allowing for almost 100 per cent
observance of Christmas as g
holiday and early closings in some
cases on Friday, industrial produc-
ton kept its power drive intact or
all fronts A drop in output al
steel mills and in automobile plants
vaS directly due to holiday clos.
ings. Soft coal output fell not only
because of the holiday but also be.
cause of high stockpiles created by
the lengthy spell of unseasonably
warm weather in the late fall. A
little cold weather will cure thai
within a matter of weeks
Electric power production was al
a new peak at 5,790191 900 kilowatt
hours. This was the latest in long
line Of new highs in this important
industry. The high volume reflected
increased industrial activity and
stepped up operations on the con-
sumner front, such as late store hours
during the Christmas rush and
greater use Of lights in homes dur
ing the long winter nights.
Oil Output Expands.
Crude oil output moved up trif1e
from the previous week and was
well ahead of last year. Heavy
engineering construction work was
unusually high for this time OF
year due to expansion of activity
in commercial building. Volume OF
$l73,235,O0O compared with $146.-
l87 1000 in the previous week and
with S63 3,608,000 year ago.
Preliminary reports to some home
building specialists indicated con-
tracts let for new housing in De-
cember and even in this last week
before Christmas, showed a sur
priSing rebound from the unim-
pressive volume of business in this
field in November and even late
October. Official figures will be out
In January. If they confirm the
unofflcial tabulationS, economists
think the sprawling building in
dustry will have a new lease on life
at time when downtrend seemed
inevitable, especially in privately
financed dwellings.
On the financial side Of the
business ledger. money in circula-
ton rose s191 900 900 from the pre-
vious week to a total Of $28 $50 000.-
900, but was we'll under last years
record total of s29,111 900 900.
The week -to-week gain confirmed
Geld reports that business had
taken a turn for the better all over
the country, especially in Christmas
spending.
Money in circulation means
exactly what it says-currency and
coin floating around from pocket to
counter to bank and back again,
turning over rapidly, usually In ex-
change for goods or services in
one form or another.
The more of it there Is and the
faster it turns over is one Of the
most reliable Of all guides to bus
iness trends, providing of course,
that 1t has a purchasing power at
all.
Lags Behind Year Ago.
The decline of more than u bill
Hon dollars from the record high
volume of a year ago gives some
Idea of the way business conditions
stack up now when compared with
that swashbuckling era OF high
prices. big spending and unlnhiblted
postwar prosperity.
The stock market pulled up to the
Christmas deadline head in the right
direction but in none-too- prosperous
q condition. With big help from a
half dozen or so special stocks that
put on a private bull drive, little
more than y billion dollars was ad-
ded to the quoted value of all stocks
listed on the exchange In the
Christmas week OF 1947 close to ST.
900 1000, 900 was added to quoted
values before business was suspended
for the holiday.
With the exception Of such holl-
day delicacies as turkey, food prices
tended to drop a little this week.
This gave added emphasis to re"ant
forecasts that 1949 will be a year
of downward adjustments in the
cost Of living.
Carrying through the trend first
established in October, the Bureau
OF Labor Statistics cost OF living
index showed further drop in Nov-
ember and all indications are that
the December figures will be still
lower