Going Up

As U.S. automakers began to hit full stride last week, production climbed. At week's end the humming, clanking assembly lines of all manufacturers had rolled out 163,266 cars, chalking up the second-biggest production week in auto history.

(Biggest: 164,876. in the week ending June 17, 1950.) Ford set a post-World War II record; both Chevrolet and Buick scored alltime highs.

But busy as the factories were, auto salesmen were even busier. Helped by the discounting dealers (TIME, Jan. 24), sales were climbing. Said Chrysler President Lester Lum ("Tex") Colbert: "We are selling cars faster than we can make them.

Our problem is to fill all the dealers' orders." General Motors President Harlow Curtice estimated that the automobile industry will turn out 7,600,000 cars and trucks this year, a full 650,000 above last year's production. Moreover, said he, G.M. dealers are selling 1955 models "just as fast as they can get them from the factory ... I foresee a continuing high demand." Predicted Curtice: G.M. will have another $10 billion sales year; the national economy will rise to a new peak in 1955.

The upturn which began last fall was duly reflected in the first crop of fourth-quarter earnings reports. American Telephone & Telegraph Co. reported a fourth-quarter net of $125,840,000, up $4,880,000 from third-quarter profits. For all of 1954 A.T. & T. showed a net of $480 million, a fat 12% above 1953's profits.

National Biscuit Co.'s fourth-quarter earnings reached $5,398,522 v. $4,944,070 the third quarter. The net of New York's Consolidated Edison rose to $11,513,680, some 32% above third-quarter profits.

The stock market, after a sharp one-day tumble, found solid ground, rose for four days running. The Dow-Jones industrial average closed the week at 395.90, only a fraction below the week before. Among the leaders: Douglas Aircraft Co., which rose more than ten points to 134 3/4 on the strength of cash dividends totaling $1.50 and a 3-for-2 stock split.

Elsewhere, the economy showed its strength. Freight-car loadings, a traditional bellwether, climbed to 644,940 v. 602,203 for the previous week. Steel production moved up to 83.2% of capacity and the demand was still firm, still rising.

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